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THE SCOT l/N AMEKICA. 



THE 



Scot in America. 



PETER ROSS, LL. D., 

AUTHOR OF 

The Literature of the Scottish Reformation :" "Scotland and the Scots, 

" Robert Burns from a Literary Standpoint ," " Life of Saint Andrew;'' 

" The Book of Scotia Lodge ;" Editor of" The Songs of Scotland, 

Chronologically Arranged;" "Life and IVorks of 

Sir IVilliam Alexander, Earl of Stirling," etc. 




NEir YORK: 

THE RAEBURN BOOK COMPANY. 
I S96. 



'a % 



PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OS 

Sljt Ncuj-iJork 5;xmc;5. 

COPYRIGHT, 18CG, BT 

PETER ROSS. 







TO THE PRESIDENT, 

VICE PRESIDENTS, OFFICE BEARERS, AND MEMBERS 

OF THE 

ST. ANDREW'S SOCIETY 

OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
THIS EFFORT TO PRESENT A HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH RACE IN AMERICA, 
A HISTORY TO WHICH IN THE PAST SO MANY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY 
HAVE SO EXTENSIVELY CONTRIBUTED, AND TO WHICH THOSE OF THE 
PRESENT DAY ARE SO HONORABLY ADDING, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
BY THE AUTHOR, WHO COUNTS IT NOT THE LEAST OF HIS HONORS THAT 
HIS NAME IS INSCRIBED ON THEIR ROLL OF MEMBERSHIP, 



CHAP. I. INTRODUCTORY 1 

CHAP. II. PIONEERS 43 

CHAP. III. EARLY COLONIAL GOVERNORS 73 

CHAP. IV. REVOLUTIONARY HEROES 103 

CHAP. V. MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL 141 

CHAP. VI. ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS 174 

CHAP. VII. SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS 194 

CHAP. VIII. MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BENE- 

F.4CTORS 221 

CHAP. IX. EDUCATORS 2S2 

CHAP. X. STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS 301 

CHAP. XI. AMONG THE WOMEN 310 

CHAP. XII. PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS 33.I 

CHAP. XIII. MEN OK LETTERS 347 

CHAP. XIV. AMONG THE POETS 376 

CHAP. XV. SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES 411 



PR EFA C E 



THE materials for the present volume have been gaih- 
ered from many and varied sources, and their collection 
has provided for the author a pleasant relaxation from 
other studies during several years. A wide acquaintance 
amons Scots resident in this country and m Canada has 
not oSly directed him to original sources of information, 
but has, in various ways and for many reasons, shown 
him the desirabilitv of the compilation of such a work 

Even as now presented, the theme cannot be said to be 
exhausted. What is printed has been mainly selected 
from a mass of material, for it was found that the sub- 
ject was too extensive to be fully covered m a single 
volume, while every day brings to the front some fresh 
incidents in this history-making age which deserve a 
place in such a record. Still, enough has been written, it 
is thought, to bring out into clear relief the mam pur- 
pose the author had in entering upon its compilation the 
demonstration of the fact that in the building up of this 
great Republic in all that has contributed to its true 
greatness and perfect civil and religious liberty, Scots- 
men have, at least, done their share. 

It is a pitv that a work like this was not attenipted a 
century ago; for much of the early history of the Scot m 
America has now been lost or has become so mingled 
with the general trend of events that it ,has become un- 
distinguishable from the mass. Most of the early Scotch 
colonists crossed the sea in search of fortune, but a large 
number found a domicile in America under circumstances 
which, though sad, reflected honor upon themselves. Ue- 
votion to principle is a wonderful factor in the greatness 
of anv countrv, and such prisoners as those landed in 



;•/ PREFACE. 

Boston from the John and Sara in 1652 (as related at 
Page 48) must have done much to supplement and 
strengthen the stern uprightness inculcated upon New 
England by the Pilgrim Fathers. These expatriated Scots 
fought for a principle at Dunbar, and the principle that 
makes men take up their arms in its defense on the 
field of battle is one that is not likely to be abandoned 
merely on account of worldly reverses or a backward 
tide in the fortunes of war. So, too, in the time of the 
Covenant, we find many traces of men and women who, 
after suffering imprisonment at home for their religious 
sentiments, were shipped to America as the easiest way 
to further punish and silence them. Thus the student of 
Scottish history comes across many items like the fol- 
lowing, which is quoted from the statistical account of the 
Parish of Glassford, Lanarkshire, written in 1835 by the 
Rev. Gavin Lang, whose son, bearing the same name, 
afterward became a minister in Montreal and one of the 
best-known clergymen in Canada. It is an extract from 
the records of the Kirk Session of Glassford. " Item — ■ 
In 1685 Michael Marshall and John Kay were both taken 
prisoners for their nonconformity, and banished and sent 
over sea to New Jersey in America. The said Michael 
stayed several years in America. After the late happy 
revolution, 1 1688,] designing to come home, he was taken 
prisoner at sea and was carried to France, where he was 
kept a year and a half in prison and endured great hard- 
ships before he was delivered." 

It may be supposed from the above that the Covenant- 
er, Kay, remained in New Jersey, or, at all events, in 
America, and it seems a pity that, if he left any descend- 
ants, their pedigree should not be known, as next to de- 
scent from a Mayflower Pilgrim, no more honorable 
start for an American genealogical tree than the name of 
this Presbyterian martyr could be imagined. It is, in fact, 
an interesting study to follow the fortunes of Scotch fam- 
ilies in America, and while sometimes they drop out of 
sight among what John Knox pleasantly called the " ras- 
call multitude," the majority remains in the van in what- 
ever sphere of life they have attained. 



/' R E F A C E . Hi, 

The descendants of Principal Withefspoon of Prince- 
ton can be traced in honorable positions in the ministry 
and the professions to the present day. Andrew Wodrow, 
the eldest son of Robert Wodrow, the famous Scotch 
Church historian, emigrated to Virginia in 1768, and 
when the Revolutionary War broke out he entered the 
ranks of the Colonists and did his part in consolidating 
the Colonies into a nation, rising in the service to the 
grade of Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry. Many of the 
descendants of the old historian are yet to be found in 
America, mainly in Virginia, principal among whom may 
be mentioned the President of South Carolina College, 
the Rev. Dr. J. Woodrow, the additional vowel having 
been introduced in the name to preserve its sound, a cus- 
tom which is widely prevalent, and which has helped 
more than aught else to obliterate many traces of the do- 
ings of the early American Scots. This fashion of alter- 
ing the spelling of names is unfortunately much more 
common than is generally supposed. Thus Douglas be- 
comes "Douglass"; Watt, "Watts"; Urquhart, " Urk- 
art"; Patrick, " Partrick"; Napier. " Napper"; Mackin- 
tosh " Mackentash "; Gibson " Gipson "; Semple " Sarm- 
ple," and so on. 

A case in point is that of the Gilmor family of Baltimore, 
whose original patronymic in Scotland was Gilmour. As 
the history of this family in America is an interesting one, 
not only for showing how each successive generation has 
kept in the front ranks of professional and business so- 
ciety, but for illustrating how the Scot by intermarriage 
soon becomes a member of the most aristocratic local 
families, the following notice, from " Harper's Magazine " 
for June, 1882, may not inappropriately be introduced 
here, especially as, further on, it will be found that the 
early New York Scots, the Livingstones, Barclays, Watts, 
and others equally strengthened their social position in 
the community by marrying into the old Dutch families 
— the salt of the New Amsterdam community: 

" Four generations of the Gilmor family have been 
prominent in the business and social circles of I'altimorc. 
Robert Gilmor, the founder of the family in this country, 



PRE F AC E 



was born at Paisley on the loth of November, 1748 and 
christened the same day by the Rev. Dr. John Wither- 
spoon, afterward of Princeton College. John Gilmor 
the father of Robert, was a wealthy manufacturer. At the 
early age of seventeen his son displaved so great an ap- 
titude for business that his father took him into partner- 
ship. Within a year, however, from this time, Robert 
who had previously made several successful' business 
trips to London, now determined to further extend his 
commercial enterprises, and with an assortment of goods 
suitable for the American market, he embarked in 1767 
for this country, and landed at Oxford, Maryland, toward 
the end of September. This little place was then much 
resorted to by the British vessels to obtain the products 
ot the country. The young man realized $1,500 from his 
venture, and being pleased with the countrv, determined 
to settle there. While on a visit to Dorchester County 
he made the acquaintance of his future wife. Miss Louisa 
Airey. daughter of the Rev. Thomas Airev, with whose 
brother he formed a partnership before he had been in 
the country one year. On the 25th of September, 1771 
he married, and after being engaged in business on the 
Lastern Shore of Marvland for over ten years he re- 
moved to Baltimore, believing it offered a wider field for 
his business. Mr. Gilmor soon developed a character of 
great prudence and industry, and showed a decided talent 
for making money. 

" Among Mr. Ciilmor's business correspondents at this 
date were Messrs. Thomas Willing and Robert Morris 
ot Philaoelphia, both of whom were members of the Con- 
tmental Congress, and the latter one of the Sio-ners of th ^ 
peclaration of Independence. They traded under the 
firm of Willing & Morris. These gentlemen, together 
with _ Mr. William Bingham, Mr. Wilhng's son-in-law 
anticipating a treaty of peace after the surrender of Corn- 
walhs, were desirous of forming an establishment at Am- 
sterdam for the purpose of exporting more largelv the 
staple products of Maryland and Virginia, and deeming 
Mr^Gilmor a suitable person to represent the concern 
m Holland, they offered him a copartnership, which was 



P RE F A C E 



accepted. In accordance with this arrangement, Ur. 
Gihiior sailed with his family on the 27th of November, 
1782, and arrived safely on the 12th of January, 1783, at 
his destination, where they met Captain Joshua Barney, 
on his way to America with the preliminary treaty of 
peace between Great Britain, France, and the United 
States. At Paris Mr. Gilmor met John Adams, one of the 
negotiators of the treaty of peace, who gave him a letter 
addressed to Messrs. Wilhelm & Jan Willink, the bank- 
ers of the United States in Holland, and one of the rich- 
est houses in Europe. This was the beginning of a com- 
mercial connection between the Gilmors and the Wil- 
links which continued from father to son for upward of 
fifty years, during which transactions took place to the 
amount of many millions of dollars. 

" The house in Amsterdam, under the management of 
Mr. Gilmor, soon commanded an extensive business, ex- 
tending all over Europe, and to the West Indies and the 
United States. Eventually the firm thus constituted was 
broken up by the death of Mr. Samuel Inglis, one of the 
Philadelphia partners. Mr. Bingham, who was at that 
time living in London, wrote to Mr. Gilmor to come 
there, with a view of arranging a partnership with him. 
He did so, and the result was the establishment of the 
firm of Robert Gilmor & Co. of Baltimore, in which Mr. 
Bingham was the other member. By his successful en- 
terprises to all parts of the world, Mr. Gilmor, in the 
course of fifteen years, became one of the merchant 
princes of Baltimore. 

" In 1799 the business connection with Mr. Bingham 
was dissolved, and Mr. Gilmor associated his two sons, 
Robert and William, with him, under the firm name of 
Robert Gilmor & Sons. The correspondents of the old 
firm were continued to the new, and many years of com- 
mercial prosperity followed. Robert Gilmor, Jr., did 
most of the traveling for the firm, and was thus enabled 
to combine pleasure with profit. He continued to take 
the deepest interest in the prosperity of Baltimore to the 
last, and died in 1849, universallv lamented. 

"His younger brother, William, was married at an 



^,/, PREFACE. 

early age to Mrs. Marianne Drysdale, a young widow of 
nineteen. She was a daughter of Isaac Smith of North- 
ampton County, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmor had 
twelve children. Their eldest son, Robert, was graduated 
at Harvard in 1828, and afterward went to Europe as at- 
tache to the legation with Mr. Rives, our IMinister to 
France. After remaining abroad, visiting places of inter- 
est, and meeting with a great deal of attention, he re- 
turned in the Autumn of 1829. It was his good fortune 
during this trip to spend several days at Abbotsford with 
Sir Walter Scott, and often referred to it with pleasure. 
Mr. Gilmor's country seat was Glen-Ellen, in Baltimore 
County. He married Ellen Ward, daughter of Judge 
Ward, of Baltimore, whose memory is cherished as one 
of the most admired ladies that ever graced Baltimore 
society. The Hon. Robert Gilmor, who has been for 
more than twelve years one of the Judges of the Supreme 
bench of Baltimore, is a son of this lady. He possesses 
the love of art which is hereditary in his family, and owns 
a number of fine paintings and engravings formerly pos- 
sessed by his relative. Mr, William Gilmor, who mar- 
ried Miss Key, a descendant of Francis S. Key, and Col. 
Harry Gilmor, who won distinction as a dashing cavalry 
officer in the Confederate service during the late war, are 
brothers of Judge Gilmor." 

We might find similar accounts of the Scotch families 
in the local histories of all the States, but the subject is 
really limitless, and it presents itself to us in all sorts of 
biographical reading, both in the old land and the new. 
For instance, we read that Thomas Carlyle's favorite sis- 
ter still resides in Canada, which has been her home for 
many years, and a brother of Dr. Livingstone long car- 
ried on business at Listowell, in Ontario. A brother of 
Mungo Park, an earlier African traveler, left three daugh- 
ters, all of whom crossed the Atlantic, but every trace of 
them has been lost. In the course of this work many 
instances are given of the descendants of famous Scots 
taking up their residence in the Western Hemisphere, and 
in several cases the fortunes of entire families have been 
followed from their transatlantic beginning to the pres- 



i PREFACE. rii. 

I 

ent day. There is no more delig-htful or interesting 
feature in connection with the Scot in America than 
this branch of the subject. 

In many portions of this work the author might be 
criticised for having permitted the pcrf'crvidum ingciiiuin 
Scofontin to carry him apparently to extreme lengths in 
speaking in terms of praise of his native land. If in this 
respect the bounds of decorum have been exceeded, it has 
arisen from no want of appreciation of or devotion to the 
magnificent Republic of which he is proud to be a citi- 
zen, and in which for many years he has found a happy 
home. Rut there is nothing out of place in a heart beat- 
ing as strongly at the sight of the Stars and Stripes as at 
a blink of the blue banner of old St. Andrew. The two 
countries represented by these emblems have so much in 
I common that love for the one necessarily implies love for 
the other. But if some ultra American critic should con- 
demn the writer on this score, he submits that he has 
gone no further in his admiration than Americans them- 
selves. In a letter to the writer a Roman Catholic prel- 
ate, well known for his literary ability and for his devo- 
tion to America, his native land, says: 

" While Scotsmen and their descendants all over the 
world do not make as clamorous and sometimes offensive 
show of their love for the Old Country as does the Celt of 
Ireland, their devotion to the beauty, honor, success, and 
grandeur of the dear old land is, in my opinion, far deep- 
er and far more justified. It is wonderful, especially in 
view of the scarcity of population, of the comparative 
poverty of the soil, and from the unfavorable situation of 
Scotland as regards the rest of Europe, what a noble 
worldwide history she has, and how many great men she 
has produced. While Scotland was ultimately benefited 
by the Union, in the sense of material prosperity, the 
smaller and poorer country exerted far more influence 
on the politics, literature, and commerce of the wealthier 
one. It is no idle boast that Scotsmen reduced Canada, 
conquered India, suppressed the Sepoy mutiny, and have 
furnished the United States with an immense number of 
the most intelliafent and loval citizens." 



zmt. 



PREFACE. 



Equally laudatory was the following tribute by another 
American citizen, Consul Jenkinson of Glasgow, when 
he said: "The great body of the American people not 
only entertain a feeling of friendship for the people of 
Scotland, but also a sense of obligation, for much of what 
they are they owe to the teaching and example of Scot- 
land. If they believed in liberty and independence, it 
was mainly due to what the Scots had taught them. If 
they tried to elevate mankind morally and socially by a 
thorough system of popular education, they but follow 
the example of Scotland. If they refused to put on and 
wear the shackles which bound the consciences of men 
and prevented a full and free religious worship, they but 
accepted the results of the long and severe contest waged 
by the people of Scotland. They had not only drawn 
upon the teaching and the example of the Scotch, but 
they had to some extent appropriated their wisdom and 
their genius in putting these into practice. At all times 
since the history of their people began they had had 
among them many distinguished statesmen who were 
Scotsmen." 

After such tributes — and they might be multiplied by 
the hundred — from men not to the manner born, the 
author may be forgiven any apparent excess of enthusi- 
asm to which he has been beguiled in the course of in- 
diting the following pages. At the same time, no effort 
has been made to cover up the backsliding of any par- 
ticular individual, and now and again the author has felt 
it necessary to expose the shortcomings of some com- 
patriot who, to put it in the least offensive way, did not 
come up to the national standard. There are not many 
such, although it must be confessed the author has not 
exerted himself very exhaustively in trying to discover 
them. Still, even with the most diligent search, the num- 
ber of black sheep in the Scottish flock would be found 
comparatively few. The national record in America is, 
on the whole, a grand one. An instance is not on record 
of a Scotsman being tried by Lvnch law, or, with a single 
exception, of one being tarred and feathered. But that 
solitary, disagreeable event happened so long ago that it 



PREFACE. ix, 

is difificult to understand the true inwardness of the case, 
and for all we really do know the victim might have been 
a martyr instead of an evildoer. He seems to have been 
rather a dubious character, however, judging by the fol- 
lowing account of him w'ritten by the late Benson J. Los- 
sing, the American historian. 

" John Malcolm was a Scotsman who settled in North 
Carolina after the famous rebellion of 1745. He was 
aide to Gov. Try on in 1771, when he went against the 
Regulators. He afterward became a Custom House offi- 
cer at Falmouth, (now Portland,) in Maine, and early in 
1774 he was in a similar position in Boston. He was an 
insolent man. One day he struck a tradesman for an al- 
leged insult, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The 
constable pretended he could not find him. A mob 
gathered about his house, when he thrust a sword 
through a broken window and wounded one of them. 
They broke in, found him in a chamber, lowered him by 
a rope from a window to a cart, took off his clothes, 
tarred and feathered him, and dragged him through sev- 
eral of the streets with a rope around his neck to Liberty 
Tree. From there he was taken to a gallows on Boston 
Neck, beaten, and threatened with death. In the course 
of an hour he was conveyed to the extreme north end of 
the town, and then, after being bruised, and benumbed 
with cold for four hours, they took him back to his house. 
What became of him afterward is not on record. He was 
despised by both parties, and became equally malevolent 
toward Whigs and Tories." 

Considerable space might have been devoted tO' the 
humor of the Scot in America, but it was felt that such 
a theme might more properly be left as the subject of a 
monograph by some other investigator. Such a compila- 
tion would not only be interesting in itself, but would 
show that the race had lost none of its native pawkiness 
by being transplanted, nay, would demonstrate rather 
that it was broadened, that it was less dry, that it did 
not require so much " thawing out " under the influence 
of a few years' alternate baking and freezing beneath 
an American skv. Still, in these stories the Scot would 



,-. PREFACE. 

be there with all his noted characteristics. Here is an 
illustration in a story concerning dour Scotch obstinacy, 
which was once told to a group in a New York hotel 
by a middle-aged man of alert appearance and rapid, 
nervous movements: " My father," he began " came over 
about seventy-five years ago and settled in Michigan, 
which, in that part, at any rate, was a semi-wilderness. As 
the country grew more settled my father, from the mere 
fact of his having been a pioneer, became very prom- 
inent in civic affairs in the community. He was very 
conscientious, but extremely impatient of contradiction, 
never understanding why a person could disagree with 
him, when he was so plainly correct in his position. 

" Well, one night, contrary to his usual custom, he did 
not come home to supper. Eight o'clock came and the 
whole family was in bed and still he had not arrived. It 
was after i o'clock in the morning that his heavy step 
was heard on the stairs. My mother, who had been anx- 
ious, met him with a light in her hand. 

" ' Where have you been? " she asked, looking at him 
seriously. 

" ' Been on a jury,' he growled. 

" * Why did you stay so late? ' 

" ' Stay so late? There were eleven obstinate devils on 
that jury and it took me all night to convince them.' " 

But such vain frivolities must not occupy us further, 
and, besides, as this preface is already too long, we must 
acknowledge several obligations, and so bring it to a 
close. 

In a volume like this many sources have been culled 
to contribute in some way to its completeness, to fur- 
nish information of more or less importance. It has been 
difficult to determine in every case the printed authority 
for much of the work, but where it has been possible the 
authority has been pointed out. In a more general way 
the author has been indebted to many of the publications 
of Gen. James Grant Wilson, son of the sweet Scottish 
poet of Poughkeepsie. To the volume on ** Scottish Poets 
in America," by John D. Ross, LL. D., is due much of 
the information concerning living bards contained in 



PREFACE. xL 

Chapter XIV. Much useful information has also been 
received from Mr. Robert Whittet of Richmond, Va.; Mr. 
John Johnston, Milwaukee, and several others. Some of 
the data contained in the chapter on Scottish societies 
has been condensed from an earlier work by the author, 
"St. Andrew: the Disciple, the Missionary, and the Pa- 
tron Saint," now^ nearly out of print. 

It may be noticed that the references to the Scot in 
Canada have not been by any means as full as they might 
be. In fact, the writer has wandered across the St. Law- 
rence only at intervals. To do otherwise would have 
simply flooded these pages with sketches of a great ma- 
jority of the very men who have made Canada a nation, 
and, besides, the work has already been done in a thor- 
oughly appropriate and lovable manner by W. J. Rattray 
of Toronto. It may be mentioned, too, for reasons that 
will be apparent and easily understood by any one who 
has had any acquaintance with bookmaking in the 
United States during the past thirty years, that only in a 
comparatively few instances, and then merely to empha- 
size some particular point, have references been made to 
living personages. 

The writer now commends the volume to his country- 
men and to all lovers of Scotland, with the fervent hope 
that it may be the means of increasing, even in a little de- 
gree, the reverence which has in the past been freely ren- 
dered to the dear old land in the Great Republic of the 
West. 




THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



THE Scots m America, with truth, claim to be equally 
loyal to the laud they left aud to the land of their adop- 
tion. Were it at all necessary to prove how perfectly 
just IS this claim an abundance of evidence could readily 
he presented. But the claim is generallv allowed even 
by the most rabid believers in " Know Nothingism." 
hromtime to time movements have sprung up in 
America directed against a particular race or nadonality 
but no such attack has ever been made directly or indi- 
rectly upon those hailing from Scotland. They have 
generally been acknowledged as good exemplary citi- 
zens, people who had, as a people, no axe to grind and 
who m all matters pertaining to America acted as citi- 
zens, and from the standpoint of citizenship unswayed 
by any claims of nationality. No politician, so far as is 
known, ever figured on " the Scotch vote," nor did anv 
^>cotch aspirant for political office ever count on the 
solid support " of his countrymen. In all matters per- 
taining to the country the citizen of Scottish birth com- 
pletely sinks his own original nationality and takes his 



O THE SCOT IN AMERICA, 

place simply and individually with the other citizens hi 
whatever matter is at issue. , . i ,u;e 

The Scots at home somehow do not understand this. 
They do not see how it is possible for a Scotsman to 
remain loval in heart to his own land and yet fig t 
ac^ainst its government, as in the time of the Revolu- 
?ronTry Waf, nor even how a feeling of regard for the 
old nationality can remain in the breast of one who w l- 
ingly takes an oath which absolves him from all fealty 
to the land of his birth. . 

But the Americans fully understand and appreciate it 
all and as a result, no new citizens are more cordially 
welcomed to the great republic than those who hail from 
the Land o' Cakes. All over the country the Scot s 
ooked up to with respect. He is regarded as an embod- 
ment of common sense, a natural lover of civil and re- 
igious hberty, a firm believer in free --^itutions, m the 
rights of man, in fair play, and exemplary "l^f;^ ^^y^/^ 
to whatever cause he may have adopted. They laugh 
a° his reputed want of wit, at his little ^d^os^-ncrasies^a 
his dourness, at his dogged determination, at his want 
of^rdficLlit;. and several other pecuHanties but adm.e 
intenselv the effectiveness of his work, the habit he nas 
of eet^iiU there" in whatever he sets out to do, the 
nuiet^wlv in which he so often climbs to the top, whether 
h bai kino- or professional or military circles, the pubhc- 
s^iritednels he shows in all walks of life and his truly 

''t^^ TLm the beginning of their history the 
c;cots have been model colonizers and have had the 
Tia^pv faculty of making themselves P^f ctly at home 
in all climes and in all circumstances. If we like to be 
heve tl e earhest traditions, the Scots were originally a 
tribe of Greece. The tribe went to Egypt and then 
tribe o^^^^^^^*^ , expected, became commander in 
Hef of he fo?^^.s n that^ountry and married Scota, the 
daughter of the Pharaoh who flourished at tha '- - 
was^eminentlv fitting and ^^^^^^^^^erisic This Scotch 
warrior and his followers, or some of them hacl sense 
Enough not to be caught in the Red Sea when it swal- 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

lowed up so many Egyptians, and when that catastrophe 
occurred they left Egypt. Poverty stricken and deso- 
late, the original Scottish chiefs had no further use for 
the country, and so sought for other fields of usefulness. 
Making their way to Portugal they settled there, and 
naturally enough their leading chief, Galethus by name, 
became King. One of his descendants went to Ireland 
with a host of followers and became monarch of that un- 
happy country. They journeyed afterward to Scotland, 
but where they will go next the believers in this legend 
do not inform us, although some people assert that the 
migratory movement has already set in, w"ith America as 
its objective point. Tliere arc other legends of the early 
w'andering habits of the primitive Scots, some of which 
make them travel from Iceland, from Central Europe, 
and from Asia, without ever touching at Ireland at all. 
In fact, by the believers in tliese last theories the Irish 
idea is regarded as a national slander. Then if we credit 
the legend that Gaelic was the language spoken by 
Adam and Eve while they resided in the Garden of Eden 
and that Welsh was what they conversed in after their 
ignominious expulsion from that earthly paradise, we 
get an idea not only of the high antiquity but of the lost 
estate of the early Scots. 

However we may regard these legends, they all point 
in an indefinite way to one fact — and some fact can al- 
ways be evolved out of the wildest and most incoherent 
mass of legends — that the pioneers of the Scottish peo- 
ple of to-day were wanderers. This characteristic is 
borne out by their later and better authenticated history. 
We find them early noted in the military services of the 
continent of Europe, fighting with courage and fidelity, 
true soldiers of fortune, under whatever flag they hap- 
pened to be enrolled, sometimes indeed, as in the case of 
the famous Scots Guard of Erance, trusted with interests 
deemed too sacred for the subjects of the realm they 
served to protect. We find them, also, occupying lead- 
ing positions at the various seats of learning, and the 
history of such institutions as the Scots Colleges at Paris 
and Rome yet testify to the high regard in which the in- 



4 THK SCOT IN AMERICA. 

tellectual qualities of tlie nation were held even at a time 
when the general standard of education in Scotland itself 
was by no means high. There was hardly a position of 
importance in Europe in which the influence of the Scot- 
tish race was not at one time or other more or less di- 
rectly felt, and what has been called the " ubiquitousness 
of the Scotch " has given rise to many curious yet amus- 
ing stories, which, however, all have more or less truth 
for their foundation. It is often asserted that when the 
north pole shall be discovered a Scotchman will be found 
astride of it, and we have read stories of Chinese man- 
darins, Turkish pashas, and South Sea Island chiefs who 
turned out on occasion to be natives of Scotland and 
proud of their nationality. 

A story which illustrates this is given in Peter Bu- 
chan's " Historic and Authentic Account of the Ancient 
and Noble Family of Keith." It refers to an incident in 
the life of the greatest of the Earls Marischal — Fred- 
erick the Great's most honored Field Marshal. It was 
copied by Buchan from Dr. James Anderson's " Bee," a 
forgotten weekly publication issued for three years, be- 
tween 1790 and 1793. " The Russians and the Turks, in 
their war, having diverted themselves long enough in 
murdering one another, for the sake of variety they 
thought proper to treat of a peace. The commissioners 
for this purpose were Marshal General Keith (born at 
Inverugie) and the Turkish Grand Vizier. These two 
personages met, with the interpreters of the Russ and 
Turkish betwixt them. When all was concluded they 
arose to separate ; the Marshal made his bow with his 
hat in his hand, and the Vizier his salaam with turban on 
his head. But when these ceremonies of taking leave 
were over, the Vizier turned suddenly, and, coming up 
to Keith, took him freely by the hand and, in the broad- 
est Scotch dialect, spoken by the lowest and most illit- 
erate of our countrymen, declared warmly that ' it made 
him very happy, now that he was sae far frae hame, to 
meet a countryman in his exalted station.' Keith stared 
with all his eves, but at last the explanation came and 
the Grand Vizier told him: ' Mv father was bellman of 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

Kirkcakly, in Fife, and I remember to have seen you, sir, 
and your brother occasionally passing.' " 

The Scot abroad, however, does not always occupy 
high places. Sometimes he misses the tide which leads 
to fortune, but even then his national philosophical spirit 
does not leave him, and he makes the best of his circum- 
stances, whatever they may be. An instance of this, and 
beyond question a true one, is given in the Rev. Dr. 
William Wright's very interesting work on " The 
Hrontes in Ireland." He says: "On the coast of Syria 
I once arranged with a ragged rascally looking Arab for 
a row in his boat. My companion was a Scotch Hebrew- 
Professor. It was a balmy afternoon and we enjoyed 
and protracted our outing. We talked a little to our 
Arab in Arabic and much about him of a not very com- 
plimentary character in our own tongue. I happened to 
drop some sympathetic words regarding the poor 
WTctch, and suddenly his tongue became loosened in 
broad Scotch and he told us his story. It was very sim- 
ple. Twenty years before, the English ship on which he 
served as a lad had been \vrecked at Alexandretta, on 
the northern coast of Syria. He sw-am ashore, lived 
among the people of the coast till he became one of 
themselves, and at the time we met him he was the hus- 
band of an Arab woman and the father of a dusky prog- 
eny. He was content with his scjualid existence and 
never again wished to see his native heather." 

The correctness of the last sentence is open to very 
grave doiibt; in fact, it could only have been written by 
one who did not understand the Scottish character. 
Doubtless it is true that the Arab boatman did not want 
to revisit his native land in that character, and with its 
attendant poverty. But could he have managed to 
gather a few shekels together, the hope which every 
Scotsman abroad has in his heart of hearts of returning 
once more to his native land, even for a brief glimpse, 
would have been ever present, and ever increasing in in- 
tensity, as time passed on. 

In spite, how^ever, of their successes abroad, the Scots 
at home, especially in these later days, do not seem to 



6 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

value the services which their wandering countrymen 
have rendered to the glory of the old land, and have in 
fact made its name be honored and respected all over the 
world. Possibly this arises from a popular misconcep- 
tion of one of Sir Walter Scott's most carefully delin- 
eated creations — Sir Dugald Dalgetty. He has been 
held up to ridicule as a timeserver, a cut-throat, a man 
without principle, and an embodiment of self. But there 
was nothing in his character as portrayed by Sir Wal- 
ter's matchless pen to indicate that he was anything but 
the honorable cavalier he invariably described himself as 
being. His sword was his fortune, and he sold it to the 
highest bidder, but he never broke an agreement or be- 
trayed a trust. He served the flag under which he was 
enrolled with the best of his ability, and his crowning 
hope was to gather enough money to enable him to 
spend his later years where his life began. His only 
fault was his poverty, and his life was devoted to the re- 
moval of that fault. After all, poverty at home has really 
been the cause which has always inspired the Scot to 
roam away from his native land. Said a well-known 

Scotch banker in New York once to the writer: " is 

poor, but then we were all poor when we came here. If 
we had not been poor there is not a Scotsman in the 
banking business in New York who would ever have 
dreamed of leaving Scotland. Why should we?" 

To the Scot in America, the New World is a practical 
reality and Scotland a reminiscence, a sentiment. He 
throws himself with ardor into all things American, gives 
to it his best endeavors, takes up all the duties of citizen- 
ship, and does everything that lies in his power to pro- 
mote the general wealth of the country by building up 
its commerce, by developing its resources, and by adding 
to its higher aspirations by widening and popularizing its 
educational, artistic, and literary aspirations and oppor- 
tunities. He becomes an integral part by active citizen- 
ship in a commonwealth where the mere knowledge of 
his nationaMty secures him at the outset a warm wel- 
come, and is a factor in the individual or general favor 
which enables him to mount ever higher without elic- 



INTRODUCTORY. 7 

iting jealousy or ill-feeling or iil-nature on the i)art of 
the native element. 

But he never forgets Scotland even though it becomes 
simply a sentiment, although even when the chance 
comes he does not forsake the interests and friendships 
which have grown around him and return to his own 
land, spend his gear, and enjoy a blink of affluent sunset 
before the darkness of the long night comes on. All 
over Scotland we find traces of the practical love which 
the Scot in America entertains for the " Land o' Cakes." 

In the parish records of Kirkcudbright is an entry of 
the sum of £31 being left in 1803 by James R. Smyth of 
New York, the interest of which was to be devoted to 
the purchase of Bibles for the poor, and Robert Lenox 
of the famous New York family of that name was mu- 
nificent in his gifts to the poor in the Stewartry. Aliss 
Harriet Douglas, afterward Mrs. Cougar of New York, 
gave during her lifetime iioo to the service of the poor 
in Castle Douglas and Gelston. Mr. John S. Kennedy 
gave a beautiful piece of statuary to adorn the West End 
Park of Glasgow, in which city he first learned the ele- 
ments of business. Mr. Thomas Hope, merchant. New 
York, bequeathed a considerable sum for the erection 
and endowment of a hospital in his native place, Lang- 
holm, Dumfrieshire, and that charitable foundation, after 
considerable legal bickering, is now in successful opera- 
tion. John McNider, once a noted merchant in Quebec, 
left at his decease £40 to the poor of his native town of 
Kilmarnock, and another Quebec merchant, John Muir, 
left £50 to be distributed among the needy in the beauti- 
ful Lanarkshire parish of Dalserf, where he started out 
on the journey of life. Such evidences of kindly remem- 
brance of the old land might be multiplied almost indefi- 
nitely, and instances are constantly being added, from 
the munificent donations of Andrew Carnegie, to the 
smaller sums sent by less affluent but not less kindly 
wanderers " furth " of Scotland. 

A noted Scottish-American benefactor of his native 
parish was Robert Shedden of Beith, who was born 
there in 1741 and was the representative of an ancient 



g THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

V 

Ayrshire family. He went to Norfolk, Ya., in 1759 and 
entered into business there as a merchant. He married 
a Virginia lady and evidently intended to settle perma- 
nently in the country. When the Revolution broke out 
he remained loyal to Britain and was compelled to take 
refuge with his family on a British vessel, and soon after- 
ward his property in Virginia was confiscated. After a 
short stay in Bermuda he went to New York, and there 
remained so long as the city was in the hands of the 
British. Then he went to England, where he resumed 
business as a merchant. His death took place in Lon- 
don in 1826. The lands of Gatend, Beith, were purchased 
by him and transferred to trustees, so that the rent, to 
the annual value of £50, might be distributed in annuities 
not exceeding £10 and not less than £5 among residents 
of the parish. In connection with the same branch of 
the Sheddens a celebrated case was tried in the Scotch 
courts in 1861, in which a romantic story with incidents 
on both sides of the Atlantic was unfolded. Its occasion 
was the attempt of an American family of the name to 
be declared legitimate and so acquire considerable prop- 
erty in Ayrshire. But the attempt was not sustained by 
the Scotch courts, nor by those in London before which 
the case was carried on appeal. 

In writing of the Scot in America we find the subject 
so vast that it is difificult to present an adequate view of 
the theme within the compass of a volume of ordinary 
size. The materials are so extensive and the subjects 
are to be foimd in so many and such varied walks of life 
that what is here written can only be indicative, or sug- 
gestive, of the important services the nationality has 
performed in the mighty work of building up the North 
American continent. We find tlie Scot wherever we 
turn in banking circles, colleges, legislative halls, pul- 
pits, the fighting and the civil services, in editors' sanc- 
tums, merchants' offices, and in the mechanics' work- 
shops and factories. About the only sphere in which 
they have not shone is that of the prize ring, although a 
gang of six New York Bowery toughs once found to 
their cost that the Scots were born fighters, when a sim- 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

pie looking wayfarer from Stranraer whom they essayed 
to rob had them all sprawling on the sidewalk in front of 
him before they exactly realized what had happened. It 
is very seldom, too, that we hear of a Scot becoming 
what is known as a practical politician, a political 
'* lx)ss," with all that the designation implies. The near- 
est approach to it in the knowledge of the writer was the 
late Police Justice Hugh Gardner of New York, who 
was for several years regarded as the real leader of the 
Republican party in that city. Judge Gardner was born 
at Paisley in 181 8, and long carried on business as a 
dyer in New York in partnership with the late Matthev/ 
McDougall, a native of Kilbarchan, who for many years 
held the ofifice of United States Consul at Dundee. Gard- 
ner drifted into politics soon after his arrival here, and 
was at one time a Police Commissioner, but, although 
mixed up in all the " deals " and tricks and schemes 
which then, as now, disgraced local politics in his adopt- 
ed city, " Plugh," as he was familiarly called, passed 
through them all unscathed in his personal character, and 
died, as he had lived, with the reputation of an honest 
politician. He was a warm-hearted man and an enthu- 
siast about Scotland. He delighted, in a c^uiet way, in 
doing a good turn to his countrymen, by exerting his 
influence in getting them appointed to official or other 
employment over which he had any control ; but woe to 
the misguided wretch who openly boasted that the ties 
of a conmion motherland gave him any undue claims for 
assistance. Such a man in Gardner's eyes was a " fule." 
Tlie only instance on record when he publicly did a good 
turn to a Scotsman, as such, was in connection with the 
first case he tried after his elevation to the bench. The 
prisoner had been arrested for being " drunk and disor- 
derly," and in a Scotch accent promptly acknowledged 
his guilt. " Where are ye frae? " asked the Judge. 
" Frae Paisla," replied the prisoner. " Ye're dischairged, 
but dinna mak a fule o' yersel again," was the Judge's 
decision. The next prisoner, a hod-carrier, " with the 
map of Ireland depicted all over his face," as the Judge 
said when tclline the storv afterward, " tried th.e Paisley 



10 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

game, but I gied him a lang enough sentence to make 
up for the ither fellow, an' sae justice was satisfied." 
Hugh Gardner was brusque in his manner, but he was 
hberal, generous, and sympathetic, and showed these 
quahties in many ways, but always in each instance with 
the admonition to " say naething aboot it." 

In treating of the influence of the race, the question of 
what is being done by people of Scottish descent should 
be borne in mind, although it is difficult at times to trace 
out the line of descent in a country where few people 
claim an ancestral tree, and where 99 per cent, of the 
population boast of having Scotch blood in their veins. 
It is not proposed here to deal with the achievements of 
others than natives of Scotland except in a few instances 
which are adduced mainly for the sake of showing that 
the influence of a Scottish progenitor goes on through 
many generations. An instance of this, one that most 
readily occurs at the moment, is that of the American 
family founded by John Graham. 

Mr. Graham was a native of Edinburgh, where he was 
born in 1694, and claimed descent, whether rightly or 
wrongly there are no means of determining, from one of 
the Marquises of IMontrose. He was educated for the 
medical profession at Glasgow, practiced for a short 
time in Londonderry, and with some emigrants from the 
North of Ireland crossed the Atlantic in 1 7 18 and took 
up his residence at Exeter, New Hampshire. While 
there he studied for the ministry, and in time became a 
minister at Stafford, Conn. From that charge he re- 
signed for the frankly expressed reason that its emolu- 
ments were insufificient for his support, and in 1733 he be- 
came pastor of a church at Woodburv. Conn., where he 
remained for about forty years, or till his death in 1774. 
Mr. Graham was a powerful and popular preacher and 
was the author of several works, all of which, being con- 
troversial in their nature, are now very properly forgot- 
ten. His son, Andrew, was intense in his American pa- 
triotism. He was one of the most outspoken advocates 
for separation from the motherland wdien the events 
beean which led to the Revolution of 1776, and in the 



INTRODUCTORY. U 

war which accompanied it he took an active part. At 
the battle of White Plains he was captured by the Brit- 
ish, but was released after the surrender of Cornwallis. 
Later he represented Woodbury for many years in the 
Connecticut Legislature. One of the sons of this pa- 
triot — Andrew — became recognized, before his death in 
1841, as the most noted criminal lawyer in New York, 
and yet another son, John Hodges Graham, entered 
the navy as a midshipman in 181 2 and two years later 
had command of Commodore McDonough's flagship in 
the famous engagement on Lake Champlain. In 1849 
he became a Captain in the American navy, and died, 
full of years and honors, in 1878. Another grandson of 
the Scottish preacher, John Lorimer Graham, long a 
lawyer of eminence in New York, was Postmaster of that 
city between 1840 and 1844, and his services as such 
were recognized as being of great value to the com- 
munity. 

Then, too, we find Scotsmen doing good work for the 
country and for humanity in ways that can hardly be 
classified for the purposes or scope of this work. A 
case in point is that of William Steel, once one of the 
most noted and practical of that band of Abolitionists 
and social reformers who did so much to mitigate the 
horrors of slavery, to make it unpopular, and finally 
were the means of bringing about the removal of that 
most baneful of institutions from the American social 
system. Steel was born at Biggar, Lanarkshire, in 1809, 
and settled in or near Winchester, Va., with his parents, 
in 181 7. Afterward he moved to Ohio. There he was 
soon noted for his hatred of slavery, and he became one 
of the most successful workers on the once mysterious 
'■ imderground railroad " by which so many slaves were 
carried to places where their liberty was secure, where 
the words in the Declaration of Independence that " all 
men are created equal " meant more than a figure of 
speech or were held to apply to any particular class or 
race. Steel used to boast that no slave was ever retaken 
after getting into his hands, and the boast was amply 
borne out by facts. He had many curious experiences, 



12 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

many hairljreadth escapes while carrying on this humane 
work, but he passed through them all unscathed. As for 
many years he was regarded as the leader of the aboli- 
tionists' in Ohio, he was a marked man and, had circum- 
stances permitted, the slave owners, in X'irginia especial- 
ly, would have made of him a terrible example. Indeed, 
tliey at one time offered a reward of $5,000 for his head, 
but he only laughed at all such evidences of ill-will 
and even offered to carry his head on his own shoulders 
into the enemy's territory if the money was placed in re- 
sponsible hands so that he was sure it would be paid 
after thev had completed their intentions and satisfied 
their hate. Notwithstanding his engrossing labors in 
connection with the anti-slavery crusade, Steel accjuired 
a moderate fortune in business, but it was swept away in 
the financial panic of 1844. He lived to see the princi- 
ples for which he had worked so hard become com- 
pletely successful, although at a terrible cost, and the 
last few years of his life were pleasantly spent with his 
sons, at Portland, Oregon. There he died in 1881. 

Mention might be made here also of another noted 
abolitionist worker, Jndge James Brownlee of Ohio. He 
was born in a hamlet near Glasgow in 1801, and used to 
boast that many of his ancestors had fought "For Christ's 
Crown and Covenant." He settled in -the United States 
in 1827, and three years later his parents and the rest of 
the familv followed him. They bought a beautiful tract 
of land in Mahoning County, Ohio, and prospered great- 
ly. In his " Historical Collections of Ohio " Henry Howe 
writes: " For his first thirty years in this country Judge 
Brownlee was engaged chiefly in the buying and selling 
of cattle, purchasing yearly thousands and thousands of 
cows and beeves for the great markets of the West and 
East. He was always active in politics, an enthusiastic 
and ardent Whig; but while acting with the Whigs he 
astonished the Abolitionists by attending an indignation 
meeting held at Canfield against the passage of the Fugi- 
tive Slave law, when he drew up a resolution so auda- 
cious that the committee feared to adopt it, it seeming 
treasonable. He offered it personally, and it was car- 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 

ried in a whirl of enthusiasm. It was ' Resolved, That, 
come life, come death, come fine or imprisonment, we 
will neither aid nor abet the capture of a fugitive slave; 
but, on the contrary, will harbor and feed, clothe and 
assist, and give him a practical godspeed toward lib- 
erty.' * * * J'-^dge Brownlee held many positions of 
public and private trust. For years he held his life in 
jeopardy, having repeatedly heard the bullets whistling 
around his head when obliged to visit certain locailites 
still remem1)ered for their opposition to the [civil] war 
and the operations of the revenue system. He died Jan- 
uary 20, 1879, at Poland, Ohio. He was a stanch Pres- 
byterian, and his friends were numbered among the rich 
and the poor, who found in him that faith and charity 
which make the whole world kin." A daughter of this 
typical Scot — Mrs. Kate B. Sherwood — has contributed 
several volumes of high-class verse, including many 
stirring lyrics, to the literature of her own country, the 
country of her father's adoption. 

In quite another although possibly less important de- 
partment of usefulness old John Allan, the once noted 
antiquary and book collector, might be recalled. He 
was born at Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, in 1777. His father 
was a " small farmer " there and. like most people of his 
class, had a hard task in constantly wrestling with the 
soil to produce enough to make ends meet, and so the 
family became scattered in early life, after their school- 
ing was completed. John crossed the Atlantic in 1794 
and, settling in New York, got a position as clerk. Aft- 
erward he became a collector of accounts and real estate 
agent, but he never acquired what would even then be 
called moderate wealth. Therefore it is extraordinary 
how he managed to gather such a wonderful variety of 
curiosities, antiquities and literary treasures of all sorts. 
His house at 17 Vande water street was a veritable mu- 
seum. It was crowded from cellar to attic with books, 
pictures and knick-knacks of all ages and countries. 
Allan had a particular penchant for collecting snuff-boxes 
— a hobby which was once a favorite one among Scotch 
antiquaries — and his possessions in this field were more 



14 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

numerous than had ever before been gathered together 
in America. He had also a craze for illustrating books— 
a craze which is by no means to be commended, or which 
would ever be entertained by one who loved literature 
for its own sake — and his " illustrated " copies of such 
works as the life of Washington and the poems of Rob- 
ert Burns were extraordinary not merely for their bulk, 
but for the wealth and variety, and sometimes the rarity 
and uniqueness of the material which had been used in 
them. The destructiveness of this form of literary amuse- 
ment, if such it can be called, is fully set forth in a de- 
lightful passage on " Grangerites " in John Hill Bur- 
ton's " Bookhunter," for the hobby is not, as has some- 
times been said, an American invention, but had its rise 
in England, or was at least in vogue there long before 
it crossed the sea. Allan took no special interest in Scot- 
land, mixed rarely, if ever, among his countrymen in 
the city in which he had his home, but devoted his time 
and his means to increasing his collections. After his 
death they were dispersed at public auction, and realized 
nearly $38,000. 

In studying the history of the Scot in America we 
come upon many curious facts in the early history of the 
continent. For instance, the fi»'st paper mill ever erected 
in Canada was due to the business enterprise of James 
Crooks, a native of Kilmarnock, v/here he was born in 
1778. He was a good soldier as well as business man, 
and served with distinction in the royal army in the bat- 
tle of Oueenstown Heights and in other engagements of 
the War of 181 2. Afterward he won eminence as a rep- 
resentative of the people in the legislative chambers of 
Canada, and died full of years and honors at West Flam- 
borough, Ontario, in i860. During the course of these 
pages several other instances will be recorded of the first 
steps in important industries being undertaken by Scots- 
men. 

Then knowledge of the race in America comes to us in 
indirect ways. In the poems of our national bard are 
several in honor of Miss Jeannie Jafifrey, whose " two 
lovely een o' bonnie blue " apparently played havoc with 



INTRODUCTORY. 15 

Uie heart of the poet. Miss Jaffrey was the daughter of 
the Rev. Andrew Jaffrey, minister of Lochmaben. Slie 
married a gentleman named Renwick, and, after residing 
several years in Liverpool, removed with her husband 
to the United States. Scott Douglas, in his library edi- 
tion of Burns's poems, says: " Her husband's name was 
[William] Renwick, and her position in tlie chief city 
of the United States was one of distinguished respecta- 
l>ility. Washington Irving was proud of her friendship 
and society, and some years after her death, in Octo- 
ber, 1850, her memoirs were published along with a col- 
lected volume of her writings." Her son James (born in 
Liverpool) became in 1820 Professor of Natural Philos- 
ophy and Chemistry in Columbia College, New York, 
and was one of the Commissioners who laid out the 
early boundary line of the Province of New Brunswick 
and a frequent and w-elcome wTiter, mainly on scientific 
subjects. He died in 1863. One of his sons, Henry B. 
Renwick, who died in 1895, was a noted engineer and 
expert in patent cases and was the first Lispector of 
Steam Vessels for the Port of New York. He was en- 
gaged by the United States Government in many im- 
portant engineering works, notably the construction of 
the Sandy Hook and Egg Harbor breakwaters. He 
was also one of the Government surveyors in the mat- 
ter of fixing the boundary line between Maine and New 
I'runswick. Another son, James, who also died in 1895, 
was the architect of Grace Church, the Roman Catholic 
Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, and other important build- 
ings in New York, the Smithsonian Listitution and the 
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, and of Vassar College. 
The whole of the Renwick family, however, were of 
more than ordinary a1)ilit^', as might be expected from 
the descendants of a " heroine of Burns," and who was 
one of the sprightliest and most charming of Scottish- 
American ladies. 

If it was thought necessary to introduce sensational 
matters in a volume of this kind, very considerable space 
might be given to the exploits of Allan Pinkerton, the 
ablest detective who ever assisted justice in America. 



IG THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Sketches of this man's career, however, are plentiful 
enough, and his successes and experiences have been 
told in a series of volumes bearing his name, but evi- 
dently written by some literary gentleman who seems 
to have been a believer in the art of embellishing truth 
with fiction, so much so that it is impossible to know 
what to regard as truth and what to place to the credit 
of embellishment. Pinkerton was born at Glasgow in 
1 8 19, his father being a policeman. He certainly became 
the best-known detective in America, acquired a na- 
tional reputation, in fact, and was a terror to evildoer:, 
of all classes. He died at Chicago in 1884. 

One Scotsman whose influence is still felt in this coun- 
try, although not on account of any practical work he 
did while in it, was John Loudon Macadam. He v^^as 
born in the parish of Carsphairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, 
according to the article in the Statistical Account of 
Scotland on the parish of Carsphairn by the Rev. David 
Welsh. Some authorities state, however, that his birth- 
place was Ayr, and the date September 21, 1756, and 
as this claim is also put forward in the volume of the 
same statistical account relating to that country, an ex- 
ample is afforded of how even an authority can differ 
on a matter on which no such confusion should exist. 
That the family belonged to Carsphairn there is no 
doubt, however, and there was a tradition in it that their 
original name was MacGregor, that the MacAdams were 
descended from that once formidable Highland clan, and 
that the patronymic was assumed when the original nam:^' 
was proscribed by law. Macadam was educated at May- 
bole, and when a young man was sent, on the death of 
his father, to an uncle, who was a merchant in New 
York. He became himself a successful merchant, but as 
lie retained his loyalty at the time of the Revolution, he 
lost the greatf^r part, if not the whole, of his property. 
For a time he acted as agent for the sale of prizes at the 
Port of New York, but in 1783 was compelled to leave 
the country. He secured an appointment in England 
and it was while residing at Bristol and holding the office 
of a local road trustee that he showed his erenius for 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 

roadmaking and put into effect the system which still 
bears his name and which is everywhere recognized as 
the best ever conceived. Its principle is simply to have 
the roadbed made level and to cover it with about three 
inches of rock broken into fragments of two cubic inches 
each. The fame of the roads built under his superin- 
tendence and according to his ideas quickly spread all 
over England, and soon he and his sons had more busi- 
ness on hand as road surveyors and builders than they 
could easily handle. ]\Ir. Alacadam's last years were 
pleasantly spent in Scotland, where he was recognized 
as a public iDcnefactor and as a generous-handed friend 
to the poor. He refused the honor of knighthood, which, 
however, was bestowed on one of his sons, and in 1836 
passed away to his reward, at Moffat, at the ripe age of 
eighty-one. It is possible that it was the wretched con- 
dition of the roads in America, and the fact that the 
means to improve them were on hand on every side, that 
first turned his thoughts to the subject of the improve- 
ment of public highways. America was slow to appre- 
ciate the need and utility of anything beyond a clearing 
being required for a highway, but now tlipt a demand 
for " good roads " has sprung up all over the continent, 
the cry for " macadamized " streets, boulevards and 
tlioroughfares of all sorts shows that the lifework of this 
ingenious Scot has become an important factor in the 
current thought and endeavor of the land where he once 
had his home and where he doubtless intended to round 
out the entire measure of his existence. 

This chapter having dealt in a promiscuous and off- 
hand sort of way with a few representative Scots in va- 
ried walks of life, it may not be out of keeping with its 
tenor to introduce here notices of one hero who owes his 
prominence mainly to the caricature of a novelist and 
of two others who might have claimed to belong to the 
race, although they are not generally regarded from a 
Scotch standpoint. In Smollett's novel of " Humphrey 
Clinker " a peculiar type of Scotsman is introduced — 
Lieutenant Lismahago. According to the story, this 
warrior, while serving in America, was captured by the 



18 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

French and escaped, only to be recaptured by a tribe of 
Indians. The treatment Lismahago and his companion 
in misery received at the hands of their savage captors 
need not be retailed liere, but its harrowing details ended 
with the marriage of the Lieutenant to Squinkinacoosta, 
die princess of the tribe. " The Lieutenant," according to 
the novel, " had lived very happily with his accomplished 
squaw for two years, during which she bore him a son, 
who is now the representative of his mother's tribe; but 
at length, to his unspeakable grief, she had died of a 
fever occasioned by eating too much raw beef which 
they had killed on a hunting excursion. By this time 
Mr. Lismahago was elected Sachem, acknowledged first 
warrior of the Badger tribe, and dignified with the name 
or epithet of Occacanastaogarora, which signifies ' nim- 
ble as a weasel.' " It is said that the original of this Cale- 
donian-Indian Chief was Richard Stobo, a native of Glas- 
gow, where his father was a wealthy merchant. He 
was born in 1724 and about 1743 went to Virginia, where 
he engaged in business but without, apparently, meeting 
with much success. He held a good social position, how- 
ever, and probably he sacrificed his business prospects 
to further his military ambition. In 1754 he was appoint- 
ed Captain in a regiment that was raised to meet the 
French and of which George Washington was in com- 
mand. It was Stobo who designed the works which 
formed the stronghold wln'ch Washington grimly called 
" Fort Necessity," and when it w^as surrendered Stobo 
was one of the two hostages given to the French. While 
in durance at Fort Duquesne, Stobo kept his eyes open, 
and managed to send to his own side of the lines a letter 
containing a plan of the fort and suggestions for its capt- 
ure. One part of his letter " breathes a loval and gen- 
erous spirit of self-devotion," as Washington Irving says 
in his life of the first American President. " Consider 
the good," Stobo wrote, " of the expedition without re- 
gard to us. When we engaged to serve the country it 
was expected we were to do it with our lives. For my 
part I would die a hundred deaths to have the pleasure 
of possessing this fort for one day. They are so vain of 



INTRODUCTORY. HJ 

their success at the Meadows it is worse than death to 
hear them. Haste to strike." 

(/)ne of Stobo's letters fell into the hands of his capt- 
ors, and as a result he and his fellow captive were sent to 
Quebec. From that fortress he escaped, was captured, 
and condenuied to death as a spy. He again escaped, 
was recaptured after three days, escaped once more by 
means of a birch canoe, and in thirty-eight days, after 
encountering all sorts of adventures, reached the British 
forces before Louisbourg. During his enforced absence 
he had been promoted Major in his Virginia regiment, 
and so much were his services appreciated and his suf- 
ferings pitied that the Legislature of that colony voted 
him a grant of £1,300. Going to England in 1760 Stobo 
was commissioned Captain in the Fifteenth Infantry and 
served in the West Indies. Returning to England in 
1770 he settled down as a man of leisure, cultivated lit- 
erature and the friendship of literary men, among oth- 
ers of Tobias Smollett, and published a little book de- 
scriptive of his adventures in America, a work which is 
now very rare. How much of Smollett's descriptions of 
penury and adventure of which Lismahago is the theme 
be exactly true, we cannot of course determine, but it 
is certainly not a very flattering picture for one friend 
t(3 draw of another, to say nothing of the existence in the 
heart of the novelist of a sentiment of national pride 
which might have induced a softening of the sketch. 
Lockhart, in his brilliant life of Burns, excuses or ac- 
counts for this peculiar state of things as a sort of def- 
erence to the prevailing dislike of Scotsmen entertained 
in London at the era when Smollett wrote. " A still more 
striking sign of the times," Lockhart says, " is to be 
found in the style adopted by both of these novelists, 
(Dr. Moore and Smollett), especially the great masters 
of the art. in their representations of the manners and 
characters of their own countrymen. In ' Humphrey 
Clinker,' the last and best of Smollett's tales, there are 
some traits of a better kind, but, taking his works as a 
whole, the impression it conveys is certainly a painful, a 



20 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

disgusting one. * * * When such high-spirited Scot- 
tish gentlemen, possessed of learning and talents, and, 
one of them at least, of splendid genius, felt or fancied 
the necessity of making such submissions to the preju- 
dices of the dominant nation, and did so without excit- 
ing a murmur among their own countrymen, we may 
form some notion of the boldness of Burns's experiment, 
and in contrasting the state of things then with what is 
before us now it will cost no efTort to appreciate the nat- 
ure and consequences of the victory in which our poet 
led the way, by achievements never in their kind to be 
surpassed." 

But however the personality of the doughty Lieuten- 
ant may be obnoxious to us, and however much it may 
belie the fair name or distort the true story of the career 
of Richard Stobo, many originals for such stories may 
be found in the early history of the Indian tribes of 
North America; that is, their earl}- history so far as their 
associations with Europeans go. One of the more noted 
chiefs of the Creek nation — one of the most powerful on 
the continent — in the eighteenth century was Alexander 
McGillivray. His father was Lachlan McGillivray, a 
native of Mull and said to have belonged to the house 
of McGillivray of Dunmaglas — a branch of the Clan 
Chattan — probably on account of the same degree of 
relationship that makes all Stewarts " sib " to the King. 
Alexander's mother was a Creek princess whose father 
liad been a French officer ol Spanish descent, so that 
Alexander had Scotch, Indian, Spanish and French 
])lood in his veins, and as his uncle, his father's brother, 
was a Presbyterian minister at Charleston and a mem- 
ber of the St. Andrew's Society there, he could boast, at 
least, that he was respectably connected. McGillivray 
was a genius, a born diplomat, a natural leader, and in 
time became acknowledged as the supreme head of his 
tribe. He was by turns a speculator, merchant, politi- 
cian, diplomatist, and always a warrior. He was well 
educated, his early years having been passed under the 
care of his uncle the clergyman, and it was expected 



INTRODUCTORY. 21 

that lie would, on reaching- manhood, cling to his father's 
people. J Kit he preferred his maternal relatives and re- 
turned to the haunts and adopted the ways of the Indians 
so completely that he became not only their most trusted 
leader, but the virtual autocrat of the Creek nation and 
its allies. 

McGillivray once visited New ^'ork, in 1790, in his ca- 
pacity of leader of the Creeks, and the incidents attend- 
mg that visit are thus told in Booth's history of that city, 
" Colonel Marinus Willett * * * invited McGillivray 
to go with him to New York to talk with the Great 
heather. To this proposal McGillivray consented, and 
set out in the beginning of the vSummet, accompanied 
by twenty-eight chiefs and warriors of the nation. Their 
arrival excited considerable interest in the city. On 
landing thev were met by the Tammany Society, arrayed 
in Indian costume, which escorted them to their lodgings 
on the banks of the North River, at the tavern known 
henceforth as ' The Indian Queen.' Here they remained 
for more than six weeks, negotiating the terms of a 
treaty with General Knox, and, the matter being at 
length satisfactorily arranged, the treaty was ratified in 
true Indian style in Wall Street on the 13th of August, 
At 12 o'clock the Creek deputation was met by the 
President and his suite in the Hall of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, where the treaty was read and interpreted, 
after which Washington addressed the warriors in a 
short but emphatic speech, detailing and explaining the 
justice of its provisions; to each of which, as it was in- 
ter])reted to them, McGillivray and his warriors gave the 
Indian grunt of approval. The treaty was then signed 
by both parties, after which Washington presented Mc- 
(jillivray with a string of wampum as a memorial of 
the peace, and witli a pa])er of tobacco as a substitute 
for the ancien.t calumet, grown obsolete and unattain- 
able l)y the innovations of modern times. McGillivray 
made a brief speech in reply, the ' shake of peace ' was 
interchanged between Washington and each of the 
chiefs, and the ceremony was concluded by a song of 



22 "'HE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

peace, in which the Creek warriors joined with enthu- 
siasm. The warriors indeed had good reason to be sat- 
isfied with this treaty, which ceded to them all the dis- 
puted territory and distributed presents and money lib- 
erally among the nation. * * * The visit of the In- 
dians closed the official career of New York as the cap- 
ital city of the United States." 

According to all accounts, McGillivray was a brave 
man, had wonderful powers of endurance, and possessed 
all the noted Indian traits of stolidity and deception in 
abundance. His enemies never knew very well what to 
make of him, but all courted his friendship as long as 
possible, and he was probably the only man who ever 
lived who at one and the same time was a British 
Colonel, a Spanish General, and a General in the forces 
of the United States. With all his brilliant qualities, 
however, he had few admirers, and one of his adversa- 
ries. Gen. Robertson, summed up his character in these 
unmistakable words: " The Spaniards are devils, but the 
biggest devil among them is the half Spaniard, half 
Frenchman, half Scotsman, and altogether Creek scoun- 
drel, McGillivray." This redoubted warrior died in Flori- 
da in 1793. 

Quite a similar case in man) ways was that of William 
Mcintosh, another Creek chief, who was born in Georgia 
in 1775. His father was a Highland officer and his 
mother a Creek princess. Fie cast in his lot with his 
mother's tribe and became its chief. During the war of 
1812 he fought against the British and held the dignity 
of Major in the United States Army. He was one of the 
first Indians to perceive that the white man had taken 
possession of the country for good, and the policy of his 
life seems to have been to conciliate the whiteskins and 
to live with them on the best terms attainable. This pol- 
icy, undoul^tedly the most far-sighted and prudent that 
could have been adopted, led to his death, for he was 
assassinated in his native State in 1825 by some Indians 
who were opposed to an agreement he had entered into 



INTRODUCTORY. 23 

which involved the sdhng of some of the lands held by 
the Creei<s to the Lhiited States Government. 

Many weird tales are yet told along the eastern coast 
of the wild doings of Capt. Kidd, many romances have 
been evolved ont of his career, romances which have 
terrified the nursery and aroused the sympathetic ardor 
of lovers of fiction in the parlor. Thousands of dollars, 
too, have been spent in the search after Capt. Kidd's 
treasures, and hardly a Summer passes without bringing 
us a story or two of expeditions being organized. Will- 
iam Kidd was born at Greenock about 1650, and was, it 
is said, the son of a clergyman. Of his early training and 
career nothing is knowai. The first authentic glimpse we 
get of him is from the records of the New York Colonial 
Assembly for 1691, when on one occasion he was 
thanked for services rendered the commerce of the col- 
ony, and on another when £150 was voted him for simi- 
lar services. What these were is not exactly clear, but 
it has been surmised, and the surmise is plausible, that 
he acted as a sort of protector to the coast commerce 
from pirates and unlawful depredators. In 1696, Capt. 
Kidd was placed by Gov. Bellamont in command of a 
vessel, wath the view of sweeping the coast of pirates, 
and he did his work so w-ell that after his first cruise he 
was awarded a fresh grant of money, this time of ;£250. 
Then he started on another cruise, and leaving the coast, 
started out as a pirate on his own account. He sailed to 
the Indian Ocean, made Madagascar his headquarters, 
and conmiitted such depredations, scuttling, stealing, 
and robbing ships, that his name became famous and 
feared throughout the maritime world. After a time he 
returned to America, and, it is said, had any number 
of hiding places along the seaboard. His headquarters 
were, however, mainly on Long Island, and for safe 
keeping he is reported to have buried his treasures in 
different localities, but where has been the puzzle to suc- 
ceeding generations of those acquainted by reading or 
tradition with his career. The stories in connection with 
this section of Capt. Kidd's life story are of the most 



24 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

vague and unintellig-ible order, but the following from 
the pen of Mr. D. W. Stone of the New York " Commer- 
cial Advertiser " is as moderately written and as reliable 
as anything that has appeared: 

" It is beyond doubt true that Long Island contained 
several of his hiding places. ' Kidd's Rock ' is well known 
at Manhasset, up on Long Island, to this day. Here Kidd 
is supposed to have buried some of his treasures, and 
many have been the attempts of the credulous in that 
section to find the hidden gold. There is also no doubt 
that he was wont to hide himself and his vessel among 
those curious rocks in Sachem's Head Harbor, called 
the ' Thimble Islands.' In addition to the ' Pirates' Cav- 
ern,' in this vicinity, there is upon one of these rocks, 
sheltered from the view of the Sound, a beautiful artifi- 
cial excavation in an oval form, holding, perhaps, the 
measure of a barrel still called ' Kidd's Punch Bowl.' It 
was here, according to the traditions of the neighbor- 
hood, that he used to carouse with his crew. It is also a 
fact beyond controversy that he was accustomed to an- 
chor his vessel in Gardner's Bay. L^pon an occasion in 
the night he landed upon Gardner's Island and requested 
Mrs. Gardner to provide a supper for himself and his 
attendants. Knowing his desperate character, she dared 
not refuse, and, fearing his displeasure, she took great 
pains, especially in roasting a pig. The pirate chief was 
so pleased with her cooking that on going away he pre- 
sented her with a cradle blanket of gold cloth. It was 
of velvet inwrought with gold and very rich. A piece of 
it yet remains in the possession of the Gardner family, 
and a still smaller piece is in my possession, it having 
been given to my father, the late Col. William L. Stone, 
by one of the descendants of that family. On another 
occasion, when he landed upon the island, he buried a 
small casket of gold containing articles of silver and 
precious stones in the presence of Mr. Gardner, but un- 
der the most solemn injunctions of secrecy. 

'' Repairing, soon after this occurrence, to Boston, 
where Lord Bellamont chanced to be at the time, he was 



INTRODUCTORY. 25 

suinnioned before His Lordship and ordered to give a 
report of his proceedings since he had sailed on his sec- 
ond voyage. Refusing, however, to comply with this 
demand, he was arrested on the 3d of July, 1699, on the 
charge of piracy. He appears to have disclosed the fact 
of having buried treasure on Gardner's Island, for it 
was demanded by the Earl of Bellamont and surrendered 
by Mr. Gardner. I have seen the original receipts for 
tli'^ amount, with the different items of the deposits. 
They were by no means large, and afford no evidence of 
such mighty ' sweepings of the sea ' as have been told of 
l)y tradition. Of gold, in coins, gold dust and bars, there 
were 750 ounces; of silver, 506 ounces, and of precious 
stones, 16 ounces." 

]')Ut there are hundreds of places along the Hudson 
and the New England and New Jersey coasts where 
search has been made for more treasure, and at Asbury 
Park may still be seen steel divining rods which were 
once used by experts who located one or more of the 
pirate's chests where Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach 
are now located. 

Kidd was sent to Britain in 1701, tried for piracy on 
the high seas, and also for murder, and, with six of his 
crew, was hanged in chains at Execution Dock, London, 
in the same year. The news of his fate recalled atten- 
tion tO' his exploits, the notoriety of his name increased, 
and rumor magnified his daring, his crimes, his depreda- 
tions and everything connected with him a thousandfold, 
and even formed themes for a score or so of ballads. So 
far as we know, he was the only Scottish-American who 
ever was celebrated by the rh^-mes of the sheet vocalist 
and wandering minstrels of the curb and kitchen. 

Of course, nothing can be said in defense of piracy, 
and even though Kidd was guiltless of the crime of nnu"- 
der or of any of the acts of cruelty and barbarism attrib- 
uted to him, his course as an adventurer on tlie high seas 
would still leave his memory badly tarnished. Robbery 
is plain, vulgar robbery, whether committed on land cr 
sea. It is a pity, however, tliat more of the history of 



2(3 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

this redoubtable pirate was not known, for we are con- 
vinced that his character would appear in a more amiable 
lio-ht under the microscope of truth than it seems m the 
nnsty haze of tradition. Indeed, we fancy it would then 
be seen that the services for which the New York Legis- 
lature granted him gifts of money were really little short 
of acts of piracy in whose proceeds they shared and 
which they negatively authorized. " Connivance at 
iMracy" writes Mr. Ellis H. Roberts, in his interestmg 
volumes on the history of the State of New York, _" was 
a charge not infrequent against prominent persons m the 
ColoniX^s at this time (around 1700). Trivateering was 
encouraged by the Government, and reputable persons 
became partners in vessels sent out under daring sailors 
to secure prizes. The sailors did not always observe 
nice distinctions when such captures were possible, and 
privateering not infrequently fell more and more into 
audacious piracv. * * * He (Capt. Kidd) cannot 
have deemed himself a criminal m any great degree, it 
at all for, after selling his ship, he appeared openly m 
Boston where the Earl of Bellamont recognized him 
and put him under arrest."' The trouble with Kidd was that 
the stories of his having hidden treasure withdrew from 
him the support of his confederates among the authori- 
ties. As modern Americans would say, he lost his " pull, 
and so his power. In considering the case of Capt. Kidd 
we should remember that among his partners in his pri- 
vateering expeditions were such men as King William, 
the Earl of Bellamont, and Robert Livingston, and while 
this does not justify Kidd's conduct in any way, it makes 
him simply a spoke in a wheel of corruption evolved by 
others and sanctioned and protected in high places, in- 
stead of the hub of a wheel which he had cut out and 
fashioned for himself. 

We cannot close this chapter with such a dubious 
character as a representative of the nationality, and there- 
fore, as a sort of redeeming of=fset, turn to the long list 
of heroes for an example or two, and this we do with the 
more readiness, as the chapter which will deal with heroes 



INTRODUCTOR. 27 

will treat mainly of tliose who fought on the popular side 
(luring the War of the Revolution. 

In the early history of the United States and Canada, 
Highlanders, as we have seen and will frequently be re- 
minded in the course of tliis volume, were welcomed as 
settlers, and in many places, as in Nova Scotia, Cape 
Breton, Glengarry, North Carolina, and around Cale- 
donia, N. Y., as well as in other localities, the direct de- 
scendants of these pioneer inunigrants from Albyn may 
yet be found. In many places they yet speak the lan- 
guage of their ancestors; in others they are still distin- 
guished by their manners, their ways, their industry, 
thrift, and godliness. Several bands of Highlanders came 
over here in military service, and their prowess, endur- 
ance, skill, and intrepidity are freely acknowledged in 
the ordinary histories. Such was notably the case in 
Canada with Fraser's Highlanders, and in the other col- 
onies, as well as in America, with the Black Watch. But 
there were other Highland soldiers whose deeds were 
equally worthy of record with those generally men- 
tioned; but they are simply spoken of as Highlanders 
without any more definite designation. 

Such w^as the case with as gallant a band as ever main- 
tained the name of the Scottish soldier in foreign lands 

Alontgomerie's Highlanders. Famous as they were in 
their day, they are now practically forgotten; but there 
are few commands which earned a better record as sol- 
diers and as men. They were formally enrolled as the 
Seventy-seventh Regiment, and were only in existence 
some six years when they were disbanded. Thus in glanc- 
ing over their career we can start out with them on their 
cam])aign and remain with them until their flags were 
finally furled without undertaking a verv considerable 
task. Their history is a brief one; but, brief as it is, there 
is no lack of incident in the story. It is full of interest 
from beginning to end for Highlanders everywhere, and 
particularly for all who love to read aboiit the early 
doings of the Scot in America. 

In 1756, after considerable wirepulling. Major Archi- 



28 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

bald Montgomerie got permission to raise a regiment of 
Highlanders for service in North America. So success- 
ful was he that he soon was at the head of a body of 
about 1,400 officers and men, and in January, 1757, he 
received his commission as Colonel. Col. Montgomerie 
was a military man of great promise and was very popu- 
lar among all classes. He was a son of the nintli Earl 
of Eglinton, and ultimately succeeded to that title him- 
self. His father, of course, was a nobleman, but he was 
one of those aristocrats who believed the country was 
made expressly for their benefit. He was a shrewd busi- 
ness man, it is said, made three fortunate marriages, 
turned everything into cash, and even sold his vote to 
England for £200, at the time the Treaty of Union was 
being considered. Col. Montgomerie's mother, the Coun- 
tess Susannah, was one of the most beautiful women of 
her time, and was noted for her wit and her love of liter- 
ature. It was to her that Allan Ramsay dedicated his 
" Gentle Shepherd." Col. Montgomerie appears to have 
inherited the qualities which made his mother so popular 
and so generally beloved, without any of the sordid spirit 
which was his father's main characteristic. 

The regiment embarked at Greenock in 1758. Its 
officers, with two exceptions, all bore good old Highland 
names — as Grant, Campbell, Mackenzie, Macdonald, 
and the like. The two exceptions were the Colonel and 
his young kinsman, Capt. Hugh Montgomerie, who in 
turn succeeded to the earldom. The regiment landed 
at Halifax and was at once sent cii route to Fort Du- 
quesne (Pittsburgh) as part of a force which was to capt- 
ure that stronghold from the French or their Indian 
allies. It was a terrible journey at that time, but the 
Highlanders stood its fatigues and dangers nobly, 
although there is no doubt they were glad when they 
reached Philadelphia and enjoyed a brief season of rest 
in its new and comparatively comfortable barracks be- 
fore starting out again for their destination. 

The Philadelohia barracks extended between Second 
and Third Streets, from St. Tamany to Green Street, 



INTRODUCTORY. 29 

and the buildings were arranged in the form of a hollow 
square. The officers' section faced on Third Street, and 
consisted of a large three-story brick house, while the 
soldiers' quarters were two stories high, and of wood, 
w'ith a veranda running on a level wntli the second floor. 
In the centre of the square was a drillyard, or parade 
ground. Many Highland regiments were quartered 
there from first to last, and at times, when its accommo- 
dations were overtaxed, the officers took rooms in the 
house of a Scotch widow, Mrs. Cordon, who kept a high- 
class boarding establishment for many years on Front 
Street. It is said that at one time her house was filled 
with the officers of the Forty-*second Highlanders. The 
barracks, which seem to have been first occupied by 
Montgomerie's regiment, have been built over long ago. 
The expedition against Fort Duquesne was an im- 
posing one, as such things went in those days. Gen. 
Forbes was in chief command, and one of the officers 
was George Washington, who rendered good service by 
his knowledge of the country. The first stopping place 
for more than a night was Raystown, ninety miles from 
the fort. From there a smaller expedition was sent on to 
I>oyal Hannen, fifty miles from Duquesne, and in this 
expedition were Montgomerie's Highlanders. From 
Hannen a still smaller expedition set out commanded by 
James Grant of Ballindalloch, Major in the Highland 
regiment. He had with him some 400 of his own com- 
rades and 500 Colonial troops. Flaving no knowledge 
of Indian warfare, Major Grant advanced upon the fori 
in grand style, with drums beating and pipes playing. 
The soldiers in the fort made a gallant resistance, and 
being helped by a large band of Indians, poured a ter- 
ril)le fire into the ranks of the invaders, while they them- 
selves were protected by the foliage of the surrounding 
forest. It was an awful massacre. The Highlanders were 
unaccustomed to fight an unseen enemy, and when it was 
found useless to continue the contest any longer, 230 of 
them were lying on the field, dead or wounded. Only 150 
made their wav back to Loval Hannen. Several were 



?}0 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

taken prisoners by the Indians, who at once set about 
killing them with all the atrocities for which those red- 
skins were famous. After seeing a dozen of his comrades 
butchered with the most horible cruelty, one of the High- 
landers, Allan Macpherson, revolved a little scheme in 
his mind. When his turn came he told his captors that 
he knew the secret of an herb, which, when applied to 
the skin, would make it resist the strongest blow from 
sword, knife, or tomahawk. An herb of this sort was the 
very thing the Indians wanted, and they agreed to let 
him go to the woods, under escort, to gather the herb, 
the conditions being that he should rub the stuff on his 
own neck and so prove its* efficiency. Macpherson gath- 
ered some roots, boiled them, and then, anointing his 
neck with the liquid, declared himself ready, and invited 
the strongest man to try to break his skin. A most 
powerful Indian stepped forvvard and with one terrific 
blow cut Macpherson's head off, and sent it flying 
through the air for several yards. The Indians then un- 
derstood that the Highlander had outwitted them, and 
escaped the lingering death to which he had been 
doomed. It is said that they were so pleased with his 
ingenuity that they desisted from inflicting further cruel- 
ties upon the remaining prisoners. 

Disastrous as was the fate of this adventure, the de- 
fenders of Fort Ducjuesne, however, saw that they had 
a determined force to deal with, and so when the mam 
body of the invading expedition came up they evacuated 
their stronghold, leaving behind them their cannon, 
stores, and provisions. Gen. Forbes, on taking posses- 
sion, changed the name of the place to Pittsburgh. There 
the Highlanders enjoyed another respite from field serv- 
ice. 

In May, 1759, they were part of Gen. Amherst's forces 
at Ticonderoga, and along Lake Champlain and Lake 
George, and then returned to Pennsylvania and marched 
in fighting order as far as the border of Virginia. Their 
numbers during these campaigns were not strengthened 
bv recruits from Scotland or elsewhere ; but thev certainly 



INTRODUCTORY. 31 

made up in determination, courage, and endurance for 
their want of numbers. They were now veteran cam- 
paigners, and as careful of ambuscades as before they 
were careless. They understood Indian fighters and 
methods as well as any battalion of frontier scouts. As 
usual, too, with Highland regiments, even to this day, 
the more dangerous and difficult the task the more cer- 
tain was it to be allotted to them by whoever was com- 
mander in chief. 

Such a task was the expedition to Martiniciue, in which 
Montgomerie's Highlanders and the Forty-second 
(Black Watch) next took the most important part. When 
that trouble was over, both these regiments went to New 
York, and Montgomerie's men remained there, while the 
Forty-second was sent to Albany. Two companies of 
Montgomerie's regiment, which had previously been de- 
tached from the main body, had formed part of a force 
which was sent to St. John's, Newfoundland, to capture 
that town from the French. When this was accomplished 
the two companies — or what was left of them — rejoined 
the rest of the regiment in New York, where the Winter 
of 1762 was passed. Next Spring peace was declared be- 
twee'n Great Britain aiid France, and the former became 
mistress of the French colonies in America. Then Mont- 
gomerie's Highlanders were disbanded, and, while some 
of the veterans returned to their " ain coimtrie," not a 
few took advantage of the offer of grants of land and 
settled in America. 

Such in l)rief is the story of an old Highland regiment, 
whose doings are well worthy of being recalled. They 
who fought in it were an honor to the country which 
sent them forth, and their deeds at Pittsburgh, as well 
as at Ticonderoga and elsewhere, entitle them to a prom- 
inent place in the long list of Scotland's military heroes. 

It would be an interesting study to follow the fortunes 
of the gallant Black Watch in North America, or to 
relate the stirring story of such regiments as the old 
Seventy-first, but such records would occupy a volume 
in telling, and even a recapitulation of them would swell 



32 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

this work beyond due proportions. This is all the more 
unnecessary as the records of such commands are easily 
accessible. 

As an example of the men who fought in these com- 
mands, we select the name of John Small, who was born 
at Strathardale, Perthshire, in 1720, and died at Guernsey, 
with the rank of Major General, in 1796. Early in life he 
entered the army, and his career throughout was an 
eventful one. He first saw service with the Scotch Brig- 
ade in the Dutch Army, and then received an ensigncy 
in the Black Watch, being promoted to Lieutenant soon 
after joining that corps. He was under Abercombie in 
the attack on Ticonderoga in 1758, was in Montreal two 
years later, and then went to the West Indies, where he 
won his Captaincy. In 1775, after holding a commission 
for a short time in the Twenty-first Regiment, he was 
commissioned Major in the Second Battalion of the regi- 
ment known as the Royal Highland Emigrants, raised 
in Nova Scotia to aid the Crown, and was present at the 
battle of Bunker Hill. In Trumbull's painting of that 
skirmish, Major Small's figure occupies a prominent 
place. This regiment, mention of which is again made 
in the closing chapter of this volume, was named the 
Eighty-fourth, and Small was continued in command of 
the Second Battalion, and with it served mainly in the 
State of New York under Sir Henry Clinton. The regi- 
ment was disbanded in 1783, after the conclusion of hos- 
tilities, and many of the officers and soldiers in Small's 
battalion retired to Nova Scotia, where they received 
grants of land — 5,000 acres to a field officer, 3,000 to a 
Captain, 500 to a subaltern, 200 to a Sergeant, and 100 
to a private. Before leaving America Small was gazet- 
ted a Lieutenant Colonel and was Military Governor of 
the Island of Guernsey at the time of his death. 

So much for an officer. In an old issue of the London 
magazine, " The Humanitarian," we read an account of 
one of those who served in the ranks in the same cam- 
paign, under Sir Henry Clinton, with Major Small. As 
the story is interesting, we quote it in full: 



INTRODUCTORY. 33 

" An old Highland soldier — Sergt. Donald Macleod, 
of the Forty-second Highlanders — was in 1791 an out- 
pensioner of Chelsea Hospital, in the one hundred and 
third year of his age. This veteran was a native of Skye, 
born at Ulinish on the 20th of June, 1688, as appears 
from the parish register of Bracadale. He enlisted in the 
Royal Scots, and his first campaign was under Marl- 
borough in 1704-13, where he served with his regiment 
in the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, &c. ; he was in the 
Hanoverian Army in 1715, and greatly distinguished 
himself against his own countrymen at Sheriffmuir; he 
then saw foreign service agam at the battle of Fontenoy ; 
after this we find that he was in America under Gen. 
Wolfe. At the battle of Quebec Sergt. Macleod had his 
shin bone shattered by grape shot, and received a mus- 
ket ball in his arm; but when Gen. Wolfe was seriously 
wounded the old soldier offered his plaid, in which his 
beloved commander was borne to the rear by four Gren- 
adiers. Owing to his wounds Macleod was invalided, 
and returned to England in November, 1759, in the 
frigate that bore the body of Gen. Wolfe. On arriving 
in England he was admitted an out-pensioner of Chelsea 
Hospital on the 4th of December, 1759. His wounds 
soon healed, and he went on a recruiting expedition to 
the Highlands, where he married liis third wife. Although 
now seventy-two years of age, he again took to the wars 
on the outbreak of hostilities, and served as a volunteer 
under Col. Campbell on the Continent, and in the course 
of different engagements during the campaign of 1760-61 
he was wounded several times. Even these hard knocks 
were not sufficient to end the old man's military career, 
as we find him again in America under Sir Henry Clin- 
ton." 

Passing over the kittle times of the Revolution and 
the War of 1812, v/e find many instances of the continui- 
ty of the heroic side of the story of Scotland's sons in 
America. Take the career of Col. John Munroe as one 
which is an example of a thousand others, too soon, 
alas, forgotten. Mvmroe was l)orn in Ross-shire in 1796 



34 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

and settled in America with his parents when a boy. In 
1814 he graduated at West Point and was appointed to 
the United States Army as a Third Lieutenant. Promo- 
tion in Uncle Sam's Army, except at fortunately rare 
intervals, is rather slow, and it was not till 1825 that 
Munroe received his commission as Captain. In 1838, 
for brilliant services against the Florida Indians, he was 
brevetted Major, and in 1846 was appointed Major in 
the Second Artillery. That same year he was Gen.Zachary 
Taylor's Chief of Artillery, and was brevetted Lieutenant 
Colonel for gallantry at Monterey, and Colonel for his 
services at Ikiena Vista. For over a year (1849-50) he 
was military and civil Governor of New Mexico, and 
made an admirable Executive. After retiring from the 
army he took up his residence in New Brunswick and 
died there in 1861. 

This warrior's death brings us down to the opening of 
the great civil war — a conflict in which, on both sides, 
Scotsmen exhibited the native valor of their country. We 
cannot even estimate the number of Scotsmen who took 
part in that political convulsion — possibly 50,000 would 
be under the mark — as the volunteer records at Washing- 
ton do not define nationality. But it is acknowledged on 
all sides that Scotsmen did their full duty according to 
their consciences, whether they wore blue or gray. 

One of the earliest commands to answer the call of 
President Lincoln was the Highland Guard of Chicago, 
which was originally formed in 1855. It commenced its 
term of active service in 1861, under Capt. J. T. Rafifen, 
and made a brilliant record. Its first commander was 
John Mc Arthur, who was born at Erskine in 1826, and 
was originally a boilermaker. In the civil war he bore 
himself with great gallantry and rose step by step until 
he was brevetted Major General at the battle of Nashville 
for conspicuous bravery. After the war he returned to 
Chicago and entered into business, which was inter- 
rupted by his four-year term of service as Postmaster 
of Chicago, an office he administered with great tact and 
executive ability. 



INTRODUCTORY. 35 

Another Scotsman who rose to the rank of General in 
the civil war was Gen. James Lorraine Geddes, who died 
at Ames, Iowa, in 1887. There were many, very many, 
Scotch field officers in the war, so many that it seems 
somewhat invidious to single out any one, but Gen. 
Geddes had such a varied career and, on the whole, was 
so typically representative of the Scot abroad that we 
cannot refrain from relating its most salient points. It 
is very few nationalities that can point to a son who 
begins life as a private soldier <ind ends as the President 
of a college. Geddes was born at Edinburgh in 1829, 
and in 1837 was taken by his father to Canada. As soon 
as he was old enough, after he had received his school- 
ing, he went to sea. But he soon got tired of that life, 
and, while in Calcutta, enlisted in the Royal Artillery. 
He fought under Sir Charles Napier and Sir Colin Camp- 
pell in the Crimea, and received the regulation silver 
medal and clasp. When he was discharged he made his 
way back to Canada, where after a time, he was elected 
Colonel in a local cavalry organization. In 1857 he left 
the Dominion and settled at Vinton, Iowa, where he got 
employment as a teacher. When the civil war broke out 
he enlisted (Aug. 8, 1861,) as a private in the Eighth 
Iowa Volunteers, and went to the front. His promotion, 
as might be expected from his past experience, was 
rapid, and by 1865 he had passed upward through all the 
intermediary grades and was brevetted a Brigadier Gen- 
eral. He was wounded at Shiloh, and was once taken 
prisoner, but soon exchanged, and he served under 
Grant at Vicksburg and under Sherman at Jackson, 
Miss. While acting as Provost Marshal at Memphis, he 
saved that city from being taken l)y the Confederate 
forces under Gen. Forrest, and during the Mobile cam- 
paign his capture of Spanish Fort was regarded as the 
most brilliant feat of that chapter in the history of the 
great interstate struggle. When the war was over 
Gen. Geddes returned to Vinton, and for some time had 
charge of the blind asylum there, but his later years were 
identified with the Iowa College, at Ames, in which. 



3G THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

l:)esicles directing in an executive capacity, he was Treas- 
urer and Professor of Military Tactics. He was a poet 
as well as a soldier and teacher, and wrote several popu- 
lar war songs, among which " The Soldiers' Battle 
Prayer " and " The Stars and Stripes " are still remem- 
bered and have won a place among the national songs 
of America. 

This record of men of war may fittingly terminate with 
a reference to the Seventy-ninth Highlanders of New 
York, which made a record worthy of auld Scotia in the 
civil war. The nucleus of this command was a company 
called the Highland Guard, which, with uniforms pat- 
terned after those of the Black Watch, used to delight the 
eyes of the Scotch residents of New York in the fifties. 
The regiment was practically organized in 1861 and 
promptly offered its services to the national Government. 
It was accepted, and it fought through the entire strug- 
gle, " fighting more battles and marching more miles 
than any other New York regiment," as the State record 
sums up its story. Its first Colonel, Cameron, was killed 
at the first battle of Bull Run, and it was afterward com- 
manded by several noted officers. On the conclusion of 
peace the regiment returned to New York, was mustered 
out of service and at once enrolled as a State regiment 
of militia. It was finally mustered out in 1875, when 
under the command of Col. Joseph Laing, a native of 
Edinburgh, and a good soldier. The deeds of this gallant 
regiment have been fully told in a portly volume, and 
thus a knowledge of the details of its campaigns is fairly 
on record and can be read by all Scots who desire addi- 
tional topics for illustration of Scottish heroism on 
American soil. 

Probably the central figure of the Seventy-ninth High- 
landers — the fighting Seventy-ninth — during the war 
was Col. David Morrison, who died in New York in 
February, 1896. His career is an illustration of that of 
hundreds of good men who took up arms in response to 
the call from Washington at the outbreak of the civil 
war. David Alorrison w-as born at Glasgow in 1823, and 



INTRODUCTORY. 37 

learned the trade of a brassfounder. After a short term 
in the British Army, Morrison settled in New York and 
soon started in business. When the war broke out he 
went with the Seventy-ninth to the front as one of its 
Captains, and steadily rose until he was made Colonel, 
and commanded the regiment. He proved a brilliant 
leader and his personal bravery was beyond question. 
His men loved him, trusted him, and executed whatever 
order he gave unquestioningly, and he was the personal 
friend of every man who marched under the Seventy- 
ninth's banners. He, with the regiment, and while acting 
as commander of a brigade, took part in many battles 
and skirmishes, and the story of their campaigns is one 
of the most wonderful in the history of the conflict. When 
the struggle was over. Col. Morrison returned to New 
York with the brevet rank of Brigadier General, and 
again resumed his business, prospering day after day — as 
iie deserved. Except to attend a meeting of the Seventy- 
ninth veterans, or a St. Andrew's Society dinner, he de- 
voted his spare time to his home and family, and was 
rarely seen at public gatherings. But he gave away 
liberally in charity, and many a war veteran was helped 
over an emergency by his thoughtful generosity. " A 
brave soldier, a good man, and a Christian gentle- 
man " was what one of his comrades said in speaking of 
his merits when the news of his death became public, and 
a whole volume of anecdote could not more fittingly or 
truthfully describe the man. 

We give one anecdote, as it occurred long after the tie 
between Gen. Morrison and the Seventy-ninth had be- 
come merely one of sentiment, and shows that his heart 
continued warm to his old conu-ades until the end, for 
the incident occurred only a few years before his death. 
" A year or two ago," says our informant, writing in 
1896, " the members of old St. Andrew's Division in the 
course of their temperance work, learned of the case of 
an old member of the Seventy-ninth Regiment who was 
steadily ' going down into the depths ' from a love for 
liquor. The man held a fair social position, had a lux- 



38 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

uriously furnished home, a good business, and but for 
' the drink ' would have had a happy hfe all round. The 
St. Andrew's men who were interested in the case plead- 
ed with the man, but to no avail. Then it was suggested 
that Gen. Morrison should be told of the matter and his 
aid invoked. The trouble was laid before him and he at 
once willingly volunteered to accompany the division 
folk on a night that was designated. When the night 
arrived, however, it was feared that the General would 
not turn up. It was one of those Winter evenings when 
it was raining one minute, freezing the next, and with an 
interval of sleet between. The streets were slippery, the 
rain was drenching, and those who knew how^ fond Gen. 
Morrison was of his home did not believe it possible that 
he would venture out. But, exact to the moment agreed 
upon, he turned up at the home of the then head of the 
division, Mr. Thomas Cochrane, plumber, a native of 
Glasgow, and when wonder was expressed at his pres- 
ence under the circumstances he said he felt that a duty 
had been assigned to him and it would take queer 
weather to make him fail. It was not long before we 
were in the home of the man we were trying to aid, and 
without any preliminary fencing, the General quietly 
opened fire. He did not say much, but what he did say 
was so sincere, so evidently from the heart, that in a very 
short time the man was in tears and promised not only 
to abstain, but to join the division. We do not wish to 
repeat what was said, for the proceedings were private, 
but we never heard a shorter or better temperance lect- 
vire than the General gave. It was practical, kindly, and 
touching. After the promise was given we spent a very 
happy night, and when we were escorting the General to 
the cars he expressed the pleasure he would feel if he 
thought he had been of service, and said St. Andrew's 
Division had a right to call on him or any one else to 
help in its work. Perhaps had New- York contained more 
Scotsmen of his stamp the division might have been 
alive to-day. The strange thing was that none of us ever 
questioned whether Gen. Morrison was himself a teeto- 



INTRODUCTORY. 39 

taller or not. ^^'e had implicit faith that he would help 
us to do what was right and that such a faith existed is 
as green a wreath as can be placed on the grave where 
now, alas! rest his honored remains." 

It is interesting to know how widely scattered become 
the members of a conmiand like tlic Seventy-ninth after 
fighting together for nearly four years in defense of the 
Union. The veterans" organization of the old soldiers of 
the regiment numbers i68 members at present. The 
number is decreasing yearly, but that, in the nature of 
things, is to be expected. The following notes of the 
present whereabouts and standing of several of the best 
known of the veterans is taken from the " New York 
Scottish-American," the information being called forth 
in connection with the death of Gen. Alorrison. " Col. 
Joseph Laing was Captain of G Company when the 
regiment first went to the front. He was wounded on 
several occasions — once severely — and his comrades are 
unanimous in bearing testimony to the pluck and 
soldierly qualities he shewed on the field. His 
place of business, at the corner of Fulton and 
Water Streets, this city, where he is an engraver 
and print-seller, has long been a house of call, both 
for old members of the regiment and soldiers belonging 
to other corps. Col. A. D. Baird is a prosperous 
citizen of Brooklyn. A few years ago he was the Re- 
publican candidate for Mayor, and at present he is a 
Commissioner for the new East River bridge Along 
with his son, he carries on extensive stone works in the 
Eastern District. He is, now that Gen. Morrison has 
gone, the association's best friend. Capt. Robert Armour, 
again, is at the head of an important bureau in the Quar- 
termaster's Department of the War Office at Washing- 
ton. ISTr. Crammond Kennedy, the Chaplain of the regi- 
ment, wlio was once knowni as the " boy preacher," now 
practices law with success at the national capital. Major 
Hugh Young, who is a resident of this city, has accjuired 
a competency from a patent of his invention which is 
used in all stone yards. Dr. David AIcKay has a good 



40 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

practice as a physician in Dallas, Texas, and Dr. Charles 
E. Locke is the owner of silver mines in Colorado, and 
a member of the State Senate. Lieut. D. G. Falconer, 
who lost a leg in the war, is a prominent lawyer in Lex- 
ington, Ky. Mr. Thomas Moore, who was President of 
the association when it visited Louisville, is a manu- 
facturer of horse collars in Pearl Street, this city. He is 
prominent in the Masonic fraternity, and has been hon- 
ored with some high offices in the brotherhood, being at 
present Trustee of its hall and asylum. William Webster, 
who was a private in the regiment, went after the war to 
the Old Country, and became a Captain in the Cold- 
stream Guards, a position which he only recently re- 
signed. Mr. John Spence, who was also a private, has a 
large and profitable plumbing business in the upper part 
of this city. Sergt. James McLean is a manufacturer of 
ice-boxes and butchers' fixtures, his works being in Elev- 
enth Avenue. Private John PI. Grant was for more than 
twenty-five years a police Sergeant, and is now Acting 
Captain at One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street. Sergt. 
Major Joseph Stewart, having faithfully served the city 
for more than twenty years in the Police Department, is 
now a retired Sergeant, and a respected and trusted em- 
ploye of the Nassaii Trust Company of Brooklyn. A 
good number of the other members also reside in this 
city and neighborhood, among them Adjt. Gilmour, is 
connected with the business of his father-in-law, the late 
Gen. Morrison; Capt. John Glendinning is employed by 
the Board of Works, Capts. Thomas Barclay, F. W. 
Judge, and Robert Gair live in Brooklyn ; Capt. William 
"dark is employed in the Post Office here, Lieut. John S. 
Dingwall resides up town, and Mr. J. S. Martin, popu- 
larly known as ' Crackers,' keeps his comrades in 
a state of merriment at all their social gatherings. Mr. 
Malcolm Sinclair, who was well known here, is now at 
Cumberland, Md. The rest of the veterans are scattered 
far and wide over the country. There are a good number 
in Staten Lsland, several in Chicago, some in the Soldiers' 
Homes at Hampton, Va., Kearny, N. J., or elsewhere. 



INTRODUCTORY. 4[ 

.Some are living" happily with their friends the enemy 
down in Dixie, while Middletown, Conn., Syracnse, N. 
Y., Auburn, Neb., Denver, Col., Davenport, Iowa, Pitts- 
burg-h, Penn.. Sterling, Kan., and various other places 
are among" the addresses found on the roster. Wherever 
they are they are all animated by one feeling — that of 
pride in the record of their old regiment. " 

The names mentioned in this rambling introditctory 
chapter will give an idea of the ramifications and ways 
through which the history of the Scottish race in Amer- 
ica is to be traced. The men we have already spoken of 
are mainly random instances, bttt all, even the Scoto- 
Indian chiefs, did something toward making the country 
what it is to-day. As we proceed we will find much more 
direct and important examples of the influence of the 
nationality and of the good work that influence accom- 
plished. It is a knowledge that Scotsmen have done their 
share in building up the great Republic that makes them 
proud of its progress and inspires them to add to its 
glories and advantages in every way. Scotsmen, as a 
nationality, are everywhere spoken of as good and loyal 
citizens, while Americans who can trace a family residence 
of a century in the country are proud if they can count 
among their ancestors some one who hailed from the 
land of Burns, and it is a knowledge of all this, in turn, 
that makes the American Scot of to-day proud of his 
country's record and his citizenship and impels him to be 
as devoted to the new land as it was possible for him to 
have been to the old had he remained in it. In America, 
the oil traditions, the old blue flag with its white cross, 
the old Doric, are not forgotten, Imt are nourished, and 
preser/ed, and honored, and spoken by Scotsmen on 
every side with the kindliest sentiments on the part of 
those to whom they are alien. Americans know and ac- 
knowledge that the traditions and flag and homely 
speech have long been conserved to the development 
of that civil and religious liberty on which the great con- 
federation of sovereign republican States has been found- 
ed. In the United States, Sir Walter Scott has more read- 



42 



THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 



crs and quite as enthusiastic admirers as in Scotland, 
and if Americans were asked which of the world's poets 
came rearest to their hearts, the answer would undoubt- 
edly be — Robert Burns. 




CHArTER II. 

PIONEERS. 

AS might be expected of a race which began, so far 
as we know to the contrary, in Greece, sojonrned in 
Egypt, Portngal, and other places, and at present has 
its headqnarters in the northern portion of the island 
of Great Britain, the Scots early began to tnrn their at- 
tention to America. Indeed, it has been gravely argued 
that America was really discovered long before Colum- 
bus was heard of by a band of Scotch mariners who 
were driven by stress of weather on the coast of New- 
foundland, and a full account of the discovery now re- 
poses in the " transactions " of some learned society. It 
is alleged that the mariners' boat was too much battered 
by the waves to be of any more practical service out at 
sea, and as the Scots got a hearty welcome from the 
natives they concluded there was no use of struggling 
with wind and weather any longer and they settled down, 
were adopted by the aborigines, and married among 
them. The Captain, as was natural, married a princess. 
Most all Europeans of whom we have record who mar- 
ried into Indian families got princesses for their brides, 
and from that we infer that princesses were more plenti- 
ful than were young women of ordinary degree. Had 
the Captain only written home an account of the ad- 
ventures of himself and his crew, what priceless docu- 
ments the epistles would have been to-day! His name 
would have been revered as the discoverer of America, 
while we would have been erecting statues in his honor 
and celebrating his anniversary! But he missed his op- 
portunity, and, as Scotsmen, Scotsmen abroad especially, 
43 ' 



44 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

very seldom do that, we are rather incUned to doubt the 
whole story. 

Mr. J. M. Le Moine, in his interesting paper on " The 
Scot in New France," suggests that among Cartier's 
crew, when that discoverer made his first acquaintance 
with Canada, were several Scots seamen. " Heme, 
Henry," he says, " seems to us an easy transmutation of 
Henry Heme, or Hervey." Again, in reference to an- 
other, he remarks that " Michel Heme sounds mightily 
in our ears like Michael Harvey, one of the Murray Bay 
I^arveys of Major Nairn." With reference to the facility 
with which names may be changed or adapted to cir- 
cumstances, Mr. Le Moine gives an illustration which 
came under his own observation. " We once knew, at 
Cap Rouge, near Quebec, a worthy Greenock pilot 
whose name was Tom Everell. In the next generation 
a singular change took place in his patronymic; it stood 
transformed thus: Everell Tom. Everell Tom in the 
course of time became the respected sire of a numerous 
jjrogeny of sons and daughters — Jean Baptiste Tom, 
Norbert Tom, Henriette Tom, and a variety of other 
Toms." 

In the same interesting monograph, Mr. Le Moine 
brings to our notice a veritable Scotch pioneer in the 
following words: "Who has not heard of the King's 
St. Lawrence pilot, Abraham Martin dit FEcossais — 
Abraham Martin alias the Scot. Can there be any room 
for uncertainty about the nationality of this old salt — • 
styled in the Jesuits' ' Journal ' ' Maitre Abraham,' and 
who has becjueathed his name to our world-renowned 
battlefield (the Plains of Abraham). * * * The ex- 
haustless research of our antiquarians has unearthed cu- 
rious particulars about this Scotch seafaring man — the 
number, sex, and age of his children; his speculations in 
real estate; his fishing ventures in the Lower St. Law- 
rence. Sometimes we light on tid-bits of historical lore 
anent Master Abraham not very creditable to his mo- 
rality. Once he gets into chancery ; as there is no ac- 
count of his being brought to trial, let us hope the 



PIONEERS. 45 

charge was unfounded — a case of blackmail originated 
by some ' loose and disorderly ' character of that period 
or by a spiteful policeman. On September 8, 1664, the 
King's pilot closed his career at the ripe age of seventy- 
five." 

There is, however, something mythical and unsatis- 
factory in all we know of this industrious and enterpris- 
ing personage, and we turn with satisfaction to consider 
a greater man in every respect, although by a curi- 
ous freak of fortune his name has not been immortalized 
by any world-renowned landmark like the Plains of 
Abraham. This was the Earl of Stirling, in many ways 
one of the most extraordinary men of his time, a man 
who was restless in his activity, who won fame in many 
walks of life, who was one of the most extensive land- 
owners of which the world has any knowledge, yet who 
died poor — a bankrupt. William Alexander was born 
at Menstrie, Stirlingshire, in 1580. Through the influ- 
ence of the Argyll family he obtained a position at Court, 
and became tutor to Prince Henry, eldest son of James 
\^I. He soon won the good graces of the sovereign by 
his learning, his shrewdness, and his poetical abilities, 
and when the crowns of Scotland and England were unit- 
ed Alexander followed the King to London. That Alex- 
ander enjoyed much popular favor and high reputation 
during his lifetime as a poet is undoubted, although few 
except students of literature venture to read his produc- 
tions now. They are heavy, discursive, and, with the 
exception of a few of his sonnets and his " Paraenesis 
to Prince Henry," rather monotonous. But the evidence 
that he was a slave to the mannerisms and affectations 
of the age cannot blind us to the fact that he. was really 
possessed of a rich share of poetic ability. With his poet- 
ical writings or his merits as a poet, however, we have 
nothing to do in this place, nor do we need to discuss 
the question as to whether or not he wrote King James's 
" Psalms," or even the nature of his statesmanship as 
exemplified in his ofificial relations with his native coun- 
try. We have to deal with him simply as a colonizer — 



4G THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

one of the first to colonize America. His career at Court 
may be summed up by mentioning that he was knighted 
in 1609, created Lord Alexander of Tullibody and Vis- 
count Stirling in 1630, Earl of Stirling and Viscount 
Canada in 1633 and Earl of Dovan in 1639. A year later 
he died. 

Lord Stirling found that the English were striving to 
establish colonies on the American seaboard, and 
thought, like the patriot which he undoubtedly was, that 
his own countrymen should have a share in the rich lands 
across the sea. Early in 1621 he sent a petition to King 
James for a grant of territory in America on which he 
hoped to induce Scotsmen to settle. "' A great number of 
Scotch families," he told his sovereign, " had lately emi- 
grated to Poland. Sweden, and Russia." and he pointed 
out that " it would be equally beneficial to the interests 
of the kingdom, and to the individuals themselves, if 
they were permitted to settle this valuable and fertile 
portion of His Majesty's dominions." 

The petition was granted by the King— probably that 
was satisfactorily arranged before it had been committed 
to paper — and indorsed by the Privy Council. When 
these formalities had been gone through, Lord Stirling 
entered on formal possession of what is now mainly in- 
cluded in Nova Scotia. New Brunswick, Prince Edward 
Island, a goodly portion of the State of Maine and of the 
Province of Quebec. This territory was to be known 
as New Scotland — Nova Scotia the charter dignifiedly 
called it — and over it the new owner and those acting for 
him were supreme even to the establishment of churches 
and of courts of law. For some reason, not now exactly 
known. Lord Stirling at once handed over a part of his 
new dominion to Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar. That 
part is known as Cape Breton, but it was then given the 
more national name of New Galloway. 

Sir William Alexander, to give Lord Stirling the 
name by which he is probably best remembered, sent out 
his first expedition to colonize New Scotland in March, 
1622. These pioneers, with the exception of an adventur- 



PIONEERS. 47 

ous clergyman, were of the lui.nil:)lcst class of af^ricultural 
laljorers, and only a sini^lc artisan — a blacksmith — was 
among them. The voyage was a rough one, and after 
sighting the coast of Cape IJreton the emigrants were 
glad to shape their course back to Newfoundland, where 
they spent the Winter. Next Spring Sir William, who 
had been advised of the failure of "the first expediton, 
sent out anotlier ship with colonists and provisions. The 
early reports of the land on which the new colony was 
to settle were communicated to him by some of his peo- 
ple soon after they managed to get landed — which they 
did in the guise of an exploring partv. These report's 
were submitted by him to the world, with all the attract- 
iveness of a modern advertising expert, in his work enti- 
tled •' An Encouragement to Colonies." The explorers 
described the country they visited (mainly the coast of 
Cape Breton) as presenting "very delecate meadowes. 
havmg roses white and red growing thereon, with a 
kind of wild Lilly, which hath a daintie smell." The 
ground " was without wood, and very good, fat earth, 
having several sort of berries growing thereon, as goose- 
berries, strawberries, hindberries, raspberries, and a kind 
of wme berrie ; as also some sorts of grain as pease, some 
cares of wheat, barly, and rie growing there wilde. * * * 
They likewise found in every river abundance of lob- 
sters, cockles, and all other shel-fishes, and also, not 
only m the rivers, but all the coasts alongst, numbers 
of several sorts of wilde-fowle. as wild-goose, black 
Ducke, woodcock, crane, heron, pidgeon, and' manv 
other sorts of Foule which they knew not. They did kill 
as they sayled alongst the coast, great store of cod, with 
severall other sorts of great fishes. The countrie is full 
of woods, not very thick, and the most part Oake; the 
rest Firre, Spruce, Birch and some Sicamores and Ashes 
and many other sorts of Wood which thev had not sene 
before." All this information so cunninglv and attract- 
ively set forth by Sir William in his book of encourage- 
ment—which, by the way, had a map of the territory in. 
which Scottish names are given to everv point and sec- 



48 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

tion and river — failed to attract settlers, and the pro- 
jector found himself some £6,000 out of pocket by his 
patriotism. To reimburse him, and at the same time to 
add a little to the royal treasury, the Order of Baronets 
of Nova Scotia was founded, on tlie pattern of the Or- 
der of Ulster. Even this move was not substantially 
successful, although the terms were reasonable and the 
lands accompanying the honor were " three myles long 
vpon the coast and ten mile vp into the countrie." 

We need not follow the details of Sir William's colo- 
nizing scheme any further. They belong really to the 
history of Canada. Each failure seemed to be compen- 
sated for by a fresh grant of territory, and if we may 
believe a map issued long after by one of the many claim- 
ants for his hereditary titles and " land rights " the Alex- 
ander family held " by right of charters," the sort of 
documents which the Duke of Argyll believes to be the 
most sacred on earth, not only about the whole of Can- 
ada, but the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and an undefined terri- 
tory two or three times as large as all that has been 
named put together. 

Sir William never saw his possessions on this side of 
the Atlantic, but his eldest son, known as Lord Alex- 
ander, did, and " efter his returne from his sea voyage, 
gave to the puir of Stirling fifty-aught pundes money " — 
the first of a long series of gifts to Scotland from Scots 
who have enjoyed a blink of fortune's sun on the west- 
ern side of the Atlantic. 

Among the first actual settlers from Scotland of whom 
we have record in what is now the United States, were 
the passengers on the ship " John and Sara," which ar- 
rived in Boston Harbor in 1652. That there were Scots- 
men settled and doing business — perhaps making sillar 
and meditating speeches about St. Andrew — before that 
time there is no doubt. Of the fact, indeed, there is plenty 
of evidence, but these arrivals came in a body and un- 
der such sad circumstances that the early Scottish-Amer- 



PIONEERS. 49 

ican history of the time, especially in New England, 
crystallizes about them. Tliey were prisoners of war. 
captured by Cromwell's forces after the battle of Dun- 
bar, and sentenced to be transported to the American 
plantations and sold as slaves. This was done. Some 
appear to have been traded ofi in New England for a 
term of years; others were sent to the West Indies. The 
entire " cargo '" was soon disposed of in one way or an- 
other, and for various terms of servitude, and there were 
other consignments of vmfortunates about the same pe- 
riod and for many years after sent to the New World. 
The John and Sara prisoners, however, stand out in bold 
and creditable relief from the rest, as it was due to their 
plight that the Scots" Charitable Society of Boston was 
established in 1657. The same class of prisoners, staunch, 
stern Presbvterians, were the founders of colonies on the 
Elizabeth River, Virginia, and in Maryland, and it was 
invariably the case that one of the first structures in each 
settlement was a church, although the tabernacle was 
only built of logs. 

The Scottish population received many of its earlier 
recruits from soldiers belonging to the Highland regi- 
ments who completed their terms' of service while in this 
country or were disbanded after the close of the war 
for possession with the French. Large colonies of these 
settled in the Carolinas and Virginia, and through them 
many immigrants were induced to join them from the 
home country. Canada enjoyed its full share of these 
settlers, and after the Revolution it had a monopoly of 
them, while they in turn monopolized a good deal them- 
selves. Indeed, it is said that up to the year 1810 there 
was not a merchant in the French City of Quebec who 
did not hail from the " Land o' Cakes." 

" After the termination of the Seven Years' W^ar," 
writes LJancroft in his great History of the LInited States, 
" very few of the Highland regiments returned home, 
soldiers and officers choosing rather to accept grants of 
land in America for settlement. Many, also, of the in- 
habitants of Northwestern Scotland, especially of the 



50 THE SCOT IN AMRRICA. 

clans of Alacdonalfl and Maclcod, listened to overtures 
from those who had obtained concessions of vast domains 
and migrated to Middle Carolina, tearing themselves, 
with bitterest grief, f^-om kindred whose sorrow at part- 
ing knew no consolation. Most who went first reported 
favorably of the clear, sunny clime where every man 
might have land of his own; and from the isles of Raasay 
ancl Skve whole neighborhoods formed parties for re- 
moval, sweetening their exile by carrying with them 
their costume and opinions, their Celtic language and 
songs." Marlborough, l^ladensburg, Maryland, the Cape 
Fear, Wilmington, North Carolina, York and Rai)])a- 
hannock Rivers, Virginia, Delaware, Albemarle Sound 
were among the places at which, or near to which, 
Scotch colonies settled whose history is really an inter- 
esting part of that of the early Commonwealths. 

In the State of New York there were many such colo- 
nies and one in particular deserves notice for the pub- 
licity it received at the time, and the scandal it created 
among the local politicians. In 1738 Captain Laughlin 
Campbell, an Argyllshire man, sold ofT his Scotch es- 
tate and expended the proceeds in conveying across the 
Atlantic eighty-three families from his own countryside. 
He had obtained a grant of 47.450 acres in what is now 
Washington County, on the borders of Lake George, 
and proposed to settle down there as a feudal baron, 
with his retainers around him. Many of the emigrants 
were indebted to him for the entire cost of their passage ; 
all were his debtors to a greater or less extent, and the 
])eoi)le, numbering some 500, were to recoup him by 
their labor after settling in America. His means were 
practically exhausted after bringing that host across the 
sea, and his indignation and sorrow may be imagined 
when, after landing, some of them refused to settle on 
his lands. They would pay what they owed him as soon 
as they earned any surplus, but they intended to earn 
that surplus in their own way and asserted that they 
had no idea, when they left Scotland, of simply exchang- 
ing a system of vassalage from Scotch landlords to one 



IMONIOIORS. r,^ 

in 



KIlc. 



America. Il was a Icrrihlc, an unexpected mu( .. 
The Colonial Assembly interfered. The Governor 
< leorc^c Clarke, asked that some provision he made for 
those will) were penniless, which seems to have been the 
whole lot, .and a motion was made to donate Ij to each 
family to start them in tlieir new career. The contracts 
Cam])l)ell had made with the Colonial authorities and 
with his people were ])erfectly legal, and after considera- 
ble bickering and argument all around, his |)arty or most 
of them reached Washington County and settled down 
on the tract which had been awarded to their leader, 
d'herc they c.\])erienced the hardships which are the 
usual accom])animents of ])ioneer life. lUit the majority 
appear to have overcome these hardships and to have 
succeeded fairly well in bettenng their condition. " liy 
this immigration," writes Mr. Fdlis H. Roberts in his 
" History of New York," " the province secured a nnicli- 
needed addition to its population, and these Ifighland- 
crs must have sent messages home not altogether un- 
favorable, for they were the pioneers of a multitude 
whose coming in successive years was to add strengtli 
and thrift and intelligence beyond the ratio of their num- 
bers to the conummities in which they set \\\) their 
homes." However the others may have fared. Captain 
Campbell was ruined by the scheme, and we cannot say 
that wc feel even a sentiment of regret over his mis- 
fortune, for his policy was dictated by selfishness from 
first to last. The tract on which these Highlanders set- 
tled was named by them Argyle, and when it was incor- 
porated in 1764 with Duncan Reid, Neil Shaw, Alexan- 
der McNachten, and Neil (iillespie as trustees, they had 
begun to have high notions as to its future. They drew 
up a plan on paper — thus showing tliat they had become 
thoroughly Americanized — of the town, and its principal 
avenue was there seen to be a broad thoroughfare called 
The Street and extending in a fairly straight line for 
seven miles. They divided their ])ropcrty into city lots 
and farm lots, and, api)arently, hoped to get rich quickly; 
but their hopes did not materialize, and Argyle, North 



^2 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Argyle and South Argvle, populated by Livingstones, 
Campbells, Gillies, McRaes, and others of such patro- 
nymics still retain to this day much of their origmal and 
delightful rural simplicity. . 

Quite a Scotch colony settled at one tune, too, m what 
is now Putnam Countv, N. Y. The town of Patterson 
was mostly settled bv Scotch and New England Presby- 
terians before 1750. The town got its name from Mat- 
thew Patterson, a Scotch mason who settled m i\ew 
York several years before the Revolution. As a Captam 
of volunteers he served under General Abercrombie m 
the northern campaign against the French troops. At the 
Revolution he took the side of the Colonial Whigs, and 
was much respected for his honesty and superior intel- 
ligence He was nine times elected a member of the 
New York Legislature, and was nine years a County 
Tudo-e He purchased 160 acres of land, which had be- 
ion^ed to the Beverlev Robinson forfeited estate, and 
on Uiis he erected a mansion which was long the most 
prominent in Patterson. 

The names of the Scottish families which settled in 
the place were McLean, Grant, Fraser, and Fleming; and 
there was a Capt. Kidd— no relation, however, of the 
pirate of the same name we have already spoken about. 
Several fugitives from the massacre of Wyoming, made 
classic by the genius of Campbell, found refuge and 
homes in Dutchess County ; and among the number was 
a Scotch family of the name of Stark. 

We would like to refer to other colonies, notably that 
of Glengarrv in Ontario, but that, and such settlements 
as those at "Pictou, Antigonish, and others all over the 
Lower Provinces would require a volume to themselves. 
As this work is indicative rather than exhaustive we 
have said enough for the present to show the existence 
of such colonies, while several others will be mentioned 
in connection with various matters during the course of 
our present studv. We will therefore devote the re- 
mainder of this chapter mainly to recalling the expe- 
riences and adventures of a few individuals who may 



PIONEERS. 53 

be regarded as representative of the grand army of 
pioneers. 

In the last deeade of the eighteenth eentury no man 
was better known throughout Western New York for 
his success and energy as a promoter and pioneer than 
Charles Williamson. He was born at Edinburgh in 1757 
and was the scion of a respectable Dumfries-shire family. 
In early life he held a commission in the British Army, 
and it was in the course of his military duty that he first 
crossed the ocean to visit America. He landed at Boston, 
however, as a prisoner of war, the vessel on which he 
was a passenger having been captured by a French pri- 
vateer. While on parole in Boston he fell in love with 
the young daughter of the family with whom he boarded 
— or she fell in love with him — and when he obtained his 
release the two were married under what some people 
might think romantic circumstances. The pair left the 
country in 1781, and for several years resided at Balgray, 
Scotland. In 1790 he returned to this country as the prin- 
cipal agent of what was known as the Pulteney estate, 
from the name of Sir William Pulteney, the leading spirit 
of a British syndicate which had purchased a tract of 
1,200,000 acres of land in Western New-York for colon- 
ization purposes from Robert Morris, the representative 
of the United States Government. This property includ- 
ed mainly what is now Steuben County, and, although 
Sir William Pulteney was nominally the head of the syn- 
dicate and another Englishman, John Hornby, was a 
leading shareholder, its moving spirit was Patrick Col- 
quhoun. This notable Scot w^as born in Dumbarton in 
1745 and was a cadet of the family of Luss. When a 
youth he was sent to Virginia, and there he engaged in 
business and was very successful during the few years 
of his sojourn. In 1766 he left the country and settled 
in Glasgow, where he soon became one of the most noted 
local figures. He was three times elected its Lord Pro- 
vost, organized the city's Chamber of Commerce and 
obtained a royal charter for it, and was generally regard- 
ed as the most influential of its citizens. In 1789 he re- 



n± THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

moved to London, became one of the Police Magistrato.i 
of the British metropohs, and distniguished hmiself by 
his untiring energy in that capacity, by his plans for the 
protection of the property in the city and on the Ihames, 
as well as bv his writings on police, indigence, and other 
practical social questions. He died in 1820, and like so 
many other kindly Scots at all times, bequeathed a part 
of his accumulated savings to help the poor of his native 
parish that of Dumbarton. Cokiuhoun retained during^ 
his loner career a deep interest in America and was one 
of the most enthusiastic believers in its future greatness 
and importance. His residence in Virginia and the 
';hare he took in developing the Pulteney syndicate are 
nif^cient to account for and illustrate this, but there ^^erc 
probably other ways now forgotten m which his actions 
commended him to the good will of many in America. 
How otherwise can we account for the presence of a 
marble memorial tablet, bearing a long, biographical and 
hio-hlv flattering inscription, in one of the churches at 
Canandaigua? It was erected there soon after Colqu- 
houn's death, in 1820, and was removed, for some un- 
known reason, and by ignoble hands, about 1880. 

It was undoubtedly through Colquhoun that William- 
son received the appointment to take charge of the lands 
of the Pulteney syndicate. He arrived at Norfolk, Va., 
in 1 701 and spent the Winter of that year mainly m 
Pennsylvania. P>ut while resting he was conceiving 
schemes for the future management of the property in- 
trusted to him, and on a flving visit which he paid to the 
land in midwinter he located the site of a future town 
which was to bear his name— and still bears it, although 
its intended greatness has not yet matenahzed. He also 
became a citizen and received a deed of the lands of the 
syndicate, as the law did not permit aliens to own real 
e'state in New York. Next Spring, 1792, kc entered on 
his duties in earnest and soon had " things hummm , as 
the Yankees sav. The property was quickly surveyed 
and impr(v.'ements begun. He opened roads, built 
brid'-'es laid out farms, erected schoolhouses and hotels, 



PIONEERS 55 

and, more important than all, had the tract widely talked 
about and induced intending settlers to visit the territory 
and buy or lease its lands. His greatest energy was de- 
voted, however, to the town of Bath, named after Lady 
I'.ath, the only daughter of Sir William Pulteney, which 
he founded in 1793. It was to be a metropolitan city, and 
he hustled to make it great. It had a newspaper, a the- 
atre, a racecourse, and, for a time, was the centre of a 
great amount of business, of real estate speculation, and 
of schemes of all sorts. Naturally all that attracted crowds 
to the place, and its population increased ; but the throng 
was mainly composed of speculators, gamblers, and ad- 
venturers of various sorts — hardly the sort of people to 
give a settlemenf any permanence. But while the boom 
lasted, Bath enjoyed the luxury of indulging in hopes of 
a glorious future, and every month seemed to add to 
Capt. Williamson's importance, while the members of 
the syndicate in London, when they looked at the neat 
maps of the estate and the extensive plan of the City 
of Bath, had visions of unexampled wealth lying in their 
cofTers. Williamson was elected to the State Legislature, 
was appointed a Judge, had Steuben County created, 
and was its representative in the Assembly, and became 
Colonel of the local militia. He had a large estabhsh-. 
ment, kept open house, and entertained lavishly. Among 
his other guests were the Duke de la Rochefoucault and 
his suite, and that nobleman afterward wrote an inter- 
esting account of his sojourn in the collection of small 
houses which formed the Williamson home, and which 
had been built from time to time, just as increased ac-' 
commodation was reciuired. Afterward Williamson 
erected for himself a stately mansion, which was long 
the most imposing private residence in the county. Will- 
iamson's schemes and plans would certainly have had 
wonderful results had he been allowed to carry them on 
in his own way. But his doings were on an extravagant 
and costly scale, and as no dividends were being remitted 
to London, the syndicate became restive. AH retired, 
selling their interests to Pulteney, and that capitalist in 



56 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

1800 revoked Williamson's appointment. The latter re- 
mained in Steuben for a few years, attending to his own 
affairs and seeing the work he had inaugurated and so 
hopefully developed gradually falling into a state of 
decay. Domestic troubles helped to make his position ad- 
ditionally embarrassing and his prospects more gloomy, 
and in 1806 he went back to Scotland. Two years later 
he got an appointment from the British Government in 
connection with the Island of Jamaica, and while on the 
journey there died of yellow "fever at New Orleans, in 
September, 1808. 

Bath soon fell into decay and never regained its promi- 
nence, nor did much success attend the town of Will- 
iamson, or that of Cameron, which latter was founded 
not far away and about the same time by Dugald Came- 
ron, who accompanied Williamson from Scotland to help 
him in the work of the agency. But if the Scotch people 
did not found towns very successfully, they gave to the 
county a race of settlers who, to the present day, are 
proud of their ancestry and have developed the agricul- 
tural resources of Steuben to their fullest extent. 

It must not be inferred from the failure of Williamson's 
schemes that either his judgment or methods were at 
fault. The trouble lay simply in the impatience of the 
people at headquarters, who expected an immediate 
profit upon their capital. Nor are Scotsmen to be re- 
garded as failures in respect to town founding in Amer- 
ica. Half of the towns in Canada, the centres which are 
the marts of the country, were founded by Scotsmen, 
and, indeed, to the present day are controlled by people 
whose boast is that they are either native-born Scotch 
or of Scotch descent. The City of Chicago was really 
founded by John Kinzie, an Indian trader and agent, 
the son of a Scotsman, John McKenzie, although the 
name got twisted round a little to suit the people who 
could not catch hold of the grand old Scotch name, just 
as a well-known New York clergyman whose name 
was Menzies when he landed, and pronounced it like 
a true Scot " Meengies," found himself so often ad- 



PIONEERS. 57 

dressed as Ming^ins that he was forced to adopt that 
very peculiar modification of an old Celtic name. Kinzie 
was born at Quebec in 1763, and died in the city he had 
founded in 1828, probably without much idea of its ulti- 
mate greatness. Another example of a prosperous 
American town founded by a Scot is Paterson, N. J., 
which owed its origin to the public spirit of Alexander 
Hamilton, Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, and 
until the present day its Scottish residents have been re- 
garded as among its most representative citizens. 

An instance of a pioneer in humble life, although a 
pioneer very much against his will, is that of Peter Will- 
iamson, a sort of universal genius, who accpiired more 
than local fame by being the iirst to introduce the penny 
post into Edinburgh and more than fleeting reputation 
iDy having his portrait done by Kay, the Edinburgh en- 
graver and miniature painter, and included in the pub- 
lished collection of that noted caricaturist's works. From 
that wonderful storehouse of Cjuaint information we learn 
that Williamson, who was a native of the Parish of 
Aboyne, was kidnapped in Aberdeen when only eight 
years of age. The ship a month later started on a 
voyage to America, when Williamson and some other 
young unfortunates were permitted to go on deck and 
assigned to various duties. The ship was wrecked off 
Cape May, but no lives were lost, and the crew camped 
in the woods for three weeks, when the kidnapped lads 
were taken to Philadelphia and sold for £16 a head. 
Williamson's master appears to have been a rather kind- 
hearted sort of fellow, and he made his bondsman as 
comfortable as possible. He died, however, when Will- 
iamson was seventeen years of age, leaving him ii20 in 
cash, a horse, and other valuables. For seven years more 
Williamson worked wherever he could find employment, 
being his own master, and managed to save a little 
money. Then he determined to settle down for life, and, 
marrying the daughter of a planter, received with her a 
gift of a farm of some 200 acres on the Pennsylvania 
frontier. His troubles then began. 



58 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

It was not long after he had gotten fairly settled down 
that one evening, his wife being absent, making a call 
he heard the terrible Indian war whoop, and soon his 
liouse was surrounded and he was forced lo surrendei- 
to the savages. After they had destroyed his buildings 
and stock they carried him off with them on their march 
of destruction. They committed many fiendish cruelties 
as they proceeded, burning and destroying all they could 
not take away, murdering without scmple. and carryino- 
into captivity a few unfortunates who took their fanc\^ 
principally as fit subjects for torture. Williamson's treat- 
ment was something terrible even to read about, and he 
appears to have been the most gently handled of the 
lot. They tied him so tightly to trees that the blood 
oozed from his finger nails; they applied burning faggots 
to various parts of his body, threw tomahawks at him 
beat him unmercifully, forced him to carry the heaviest 
possible loads, starved him, and, to put it mildly made 
him emphatically decide that life really was not' worth 
hying. After several months of this sort of pioneerino- 
Wilhamson managed to make his escape, and at the close 
of a series of startling adventures reached his father-in- 
law s house, only to find that his wife had died shortly 
after his capture. For three years Williamson served 
with the military forces of the Commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania, repaying the Indians with interest for what he 
had suffered, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the 
army by his bravery and success as an Indian fighter. 
This pleasant occupation was stopped at length by his 
capture by the French. On being released he was taken 
to I lymouth, England, and, being there found unfit for 
further service, was graciously discharged from His 
Majesty's service with six shillings in his pocket. His 
after career m his native land was full of startling inci- 
dents, but they do not concern us here. He died at Edin- 
burgh, m poor circumstances, in 1799. 

Some people might deny that Williamson was exactly 
a pioneer, as lie did not betake himself to open up new 
fields, or of his own volition went into sections of the 



PIONEERS. 59 

country which, prior to liis time, had not been under tlic 
observation or the sway of white men. But he was there, 
nevertheless, and his experiences and observations were 
of value in the struggle for possession then going on. If 
we turn, however, to the careers of such men as Donald 
Mackenzie or Robert Stuart, we will meet with pioneers 
whose claim to the title not even the most fastidious in 
the choice of words and terms will affect to deny. A 
great deal of the adventures of these two men and of 
several other Scotch pioneers, is to be found in Washing- 
ton Irving's delightful work. " Astoria," wdiich possibly 
presents a more graphic and truthful description of old 
American frontier life than any other volume. Donald 
Mackenzie was born in Scotland in 1783, spent his early 
manhood in the service of the Northwest Company, and 
became one of the partners in Astor's American Fur 
Company, mainly because promotion in the other con- 
cern was slow, and under new conditions and auspices 
he saw a chance of bettering his prospects. Like most 
of the other Scots who joined Mr. Astor as partners in 
the new company, he apprehended that he might be 
called upon to take part in opposition to his own coun- 
trvmen, but the fact that the British Minister to the 
United States, to whom the whole matter had been pri- 
vately submitted by two of the Scotch partners, saw no 
reason why men owning allegiance to the British flag 
should not take part in an American expedition to trade 
in a territory which was at that time no-man's land, 
quieted his scruples, as it did that of the others. Irving 
tells us that prior to joining the Astor Company, Mac- 
kenzie " had been ten years in the interior in the service 
of the Northwest Company and valued himself on his 
knowledge of ' woodcraft ' and the strategy of Indian 
trade ancl Indian warfare. He had a frame seasoned to 
toils and hardships, a spirit not to be intimidated, and 
was reputed to be a remarkable shot, which of itself was 
sufticient to give him renown on the frontier." His ad- 
ventures are fully related in the pages of " Astoria," and, 
indeed, if the doings of Stuart, Mackenzie, Mackay, and 



(JO TPIK SCOT IN AMERICA. 

otlier Scots were taken out of that book, its sul)ject mat- 
ter would i)ccupy only a few pages. Mackenzie seems to 
have been intended by nature for a pioncH'r. I lis soul rev- 
elled in the trackless woods; he knew no sense of fatigue 
or fear, was perfectly happy with each day's work, had 
no care for the future, took a delight in getting the best 
of the Indians in any transaction, warlike or peaceful; 
was always ready for any expedition, no matter how 
hopeless it seemed, and had that degree of ciiivalrous 
daring which was most likely to inspire admiration in 
the hearts of friends and foes alike. An instance is given 
so graphically in hving's narrative that we cannot for- 
bear (|Uoting it here, although that volume is happily 
still widely read. A rille belonging to one of Macken- 
zie's associates was held as a troj^hy in an Indian village 
after its owner had fallen into the hands of the redskins, 
licing near that same village with a small party, Mac- 
kenzie determined to make an attempt to recover the 
rifle, and along with two of his men, who volunteered 
to accompany him, started on his dangerous mission. 
" The trio," wrote Irving, " soon reached the opposite 
side of the river. ( )n landing, they freshly primed their 
rifles and pistols. A path, winding for about a hundred 
yards among rocks and crags, led to the village. No 
notice seemed to be taken of their approach. Not a soli- 
tary being — man, woman, or child — greeted them. The 
very dogs, those noisy pests of an Indian town, kept 
silence. ( )n entering the village, a boy made his appear- 
ance and pointed to a house of larger dimensions than 
the rest. They had to stoop to enter it. As soon as they 
had ])assed the threshold, the narrow passage behind 
them was filled up by a sudden rush of Indians, who had 
before kept out of sight. Mackenzie and his compan- 
ions found themselves in a rude chamber of about 
twenty-five feet in length and twenty in width. A bright 
fire was blazing at one end, near which sat the chief, 
about sixtv vears old. A large number of Indians, 
wrapped in buffalo robes, were squatted in rows, three 
deep, forming a semi-circle round three sides of the 



PTONKERS. 61 

room. A sin<;lc t^lancc suiTiccd to show tlicin the ^ritn 
and (hiiii^crous as.seml)ly into which they liad intruded, 
and that all retreat was cut off by the mass whicli blocked 
up the entrance. The chief pointed to the vacant side of 
the room, opposite the door, and motioned for them to 
take their seats. They complied. A dead pause ensued. 
The g-rim warriors around sat like statues, each mufiled 
in his r()])e, with his fierce eyes bent on the intruders. 
The latter felt they were in a ])erilous predicament. 
' Keep your eyes on the chief while I am addressing 
him,' said M-ackenzie to his comi)anions. ' Should he 
give any sign to his band, shoot him and make for the 
door.' Mackenzie advanced and offered the pipe of peace 
to the chief, but it was refused. He then made a regular 
speech, explaining the object of their visit and proposing 
to give in excliange for the rifle two blankets, an axe, 
some beads, and tobacco. When he had done the chief 
arose, began to address him in a low tone, but soon be- 
came loud and violent, and ended by working himself 
up into a furious passion. 1 fe u])braided the white men 
for their sordid conduct in ])assing and repassing 
through their neighborhood without giving them a blan- 
ket or any other article of goods merely because they 
had no furs to barter in exchange, and he alluded with 
menaces of vengeance to the death of the Indian killed 
by tlie whites in the skirmish at the falls. Matters were 
now verging to a crisis. It was evident the surrounding 
savages were only waiting a signal from the chief to rush 
on their prey. Mackenzie and his comj^anions had grad- 
ually risen to their feet during the speech, and had 
brought their rilles to a horizontal position, the barrels 
resting in their left hands ; the muzzle of Mackenzie's 
piece was within three feet of the speaker's heart. They 
cocked their rifles; the click of the locks for a moment 
suffused the dark cheek of the savage, and there was a 
pause. They coolly but promptly advanced to the door; 
the Indians fell back in awe and suffered them to pass. 
The sun was just setting as they emerged froin the 
dangerous den. They took the precaution to keep along 



02 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the tops of the rocks as much as possiljle on their way 
back to the canoe and reached the camp in safety, con- 
gratulating themselves on their escape and feeling no 
desire to make a second visit to the grim warriors of 
Wisli-ram." 

After a life of such adventure it is wonderful to record 
that Mackenzie spent a short season of repose before he 
died at Maysville, N. Y., in 1851. 

Stuart was a man much superior, intellectually, to 
Mackenzie, although he had all his fjualities of hardi- 
liood, daring, and an equal experience of frontier life. 
He was born at Callander in 1785, a scion of one of the 
recognized septs of the Stuarts, and the* grandson of Alex- 
ander Stuart, Rob Roy's most bitter enemy. He crossed 
the Atlantic in 1806. Irving describes him as " an easy 
soul and of a social disposition. He had seen life in 
Canada and on the coast of Labrador; had been a fur 
trader in the former and a fisherman on the latter, and 
in the course of his experiences had made various ex- 
peditions with voyageurs. He was accustomed, there- 
fore, to the familiarity which prevails between that class 
and their superiors, and the gossiping-s which take place 
among them when seated round a fire at their encamp- 
ments. Stuart was never so happy as when he could 
seat himself on the deck with a number of these men 
around him in camping style, smoke together, passing 
the pipe from mouth to mouth, after the manner of the 
Indians; sing old Canadian boat songs, and tell stories 
about their hardships and adventures, in the course of 
which he rivalled Sinbad in his long tales of the sea, 
about his fishing exploits oft Labrador." This personage 
occupies a very prominent position throughout the vol- 
ume on Astoria, and, indeed, he was one of Mr. Astor's 
most trusted partners in that expedition. Particular care 
is devoted to relate his memorable journey across the con- 
tinent — he was the third to attempt such a task — which 
lasted from June, 181 2, until the middle of the following 
year. For the details of this journey the inquirer cannot 
do better than study the pages of Irving's book, and 



PIONEERS. 63 

there he will find much additional information about 
Scottish and other pioneers connected with early Ore- 
gon. 

In 1819, Stuart left Oregon and settled at Mackinaw, 
]\Iich., where he continued to act as a fur trader and was 
appointed by the Federal Government Commissioner for 
the Indian tribes of the Northwest. In 1834 he settled in 
Detroit, and among other important offices, served as 
Treasurer of Michigan. His honesty was of the most 
scrupulous order, and when he died, at Chicago, in 1848, 
his loss was regretted by the Indian tribes over whom he 
had exercised authority, for they recognized in him a 
true friend, one whose word was his bond, and a man 
who was ever ready to further their welfare. Such a man 
deserves to be held in kindly remembrance. He was 
faithful to every trust imposed upon him. Whatever duty 
was intrusted to him was well clone. His whole life had 
all the elements of romance, but its entire series of events 
were always controlled by some useful, practical purpose 
and of direct benefit to the country of which he became a 
citizen. His devotion to the land of his adoption was re- 
produced in the career of his son, David, who was born 
at Brooklyn in 1816. Educated as a lawyer, he became 
very popular in public life and served in Congress, as one 
of the Representatives of Michigan, from December, 
1853, to March. 1855. Then he removed to Chicago to 
become attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad. In 
1861, when the war broke out, he went to the front as 
Colonel of the Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, and com- 
manded a brigade under Sherman. After being wounded 
at Shiloh, he was laid aside from military service for a 
wdiile, but soon returned to active duty, and, being ap- 
pointed a Brigadier General of Volunteers, performed 
brilliant service at Corinth and other places. At that 
time, however, political feeling ran high, and, being a 
Democrat, Congress failed to confirm his appointment, 
so he retired from the armv and resumed the practice of 
law at Detroit. He died there in 1868. 

The Scotch pioneers mav be divided into three classes 



(14: THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

— those whose efforts were directed to wholesale coloniz- 
ing', those who braved the dangers and discomforts of 
the new land as individual settlers, and those who were 
simply explorers. In the first of these classes, a most 
noted figure is that of Thomas, fifth Earl of Selkirk — the 
brother of that Lord Daer whose only title to remem- 
brance, or immortality, as some would say, lies in the 
fact that he invited Robert Burns to dinner, and that the 
latter wrote a poem about it. Lord Selkirk was born in 
1771, and in 1799 succeeded to his ancestral title and 
estates. Like nearly all the rest of his family, he was 
possessed of much public spirit. He visited America in 
1802-3, and was so struck by the benefits which were 
likely to accrue to his countrymen through organized im- 
migration that throughout his career he never ceased to 
advocate all measures tending to promote the settlement 
in Canada of Scotch colonies. His appearance while 
traveling in America is thus described in a letter written 
by Mrs. Thomas Morris: " I recollect a short visit from 
Prince Ruspoli, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, 
and in a few days from Lord Selkirk on his journey to 
visit a settlement he was forming in Canada — far to the 
north. He struck me as a reserved, difitident young man, 
almost austere in his dress, with heavy, dusty shoes tied 
with leather thongs; but then, to support his aristocratic 
pretenses, he had a dandy servant, who laid out his toilet 
like a lady's." His first experience as a colonizer, in 
Prince Edward Island, was very encouraging. In the 
history of that island by the late Duncan Campbell, we 
read: "The Earl of Selkirk brought out to his property 
about 800 souls. They were located on land north and 
south of Point Prim, which had been previously occupied 
by' French settlers, but a large portion of which was now 
again covered with wood and thus rendered difilicult of 
cultivation. Many of His Lordship's tenants became suc- 
cessful settlers." He also settled a colony in Kent. Onta- 
rio, which proved verv prosperous. 

P)Ut the settlement by which Lord Selkirk is best re- 
membered in the annals of Canada is that of the Red 



PIONEERS. 65 

River colony, in what is now the Province of Manitoba. 
While residing in Montreal he heard many stories of the 
wonderful fertility of the Northwest, and saw in that sec- 
tion an unlimited field for settlement. He bought largely 
of the stock of the Hudson Bay Company, and through 
the influence he thus acquired, he was enabled to induce 
that corporation to sell him a vast tract of land in the 
Red River Valley in 1811. The lands were fertile and 
eminently suited for an agricultural community. Nature 
had done everything possible to aid man to reap a rich 
harvest from the soil, and even the severity of the Win- 
ters had their advantages. The settlers, mainly from 
Kildonan, Sutherlandshire, arrived in the Fall of 1812, 
and were given holdings around Fort Garry — the site 
of which is now included in the thriving City of Winni- 
peg. It was a wild time. The rivalries of the different 
fur-trading companies often culminated in a fight in the 
settlement, and the Indians harassed the colonists' lives 
and destroyed their crops. The first Winter's experience 
disheartened many, and a memorable march was made 
by the faint-hearted ones back to civilization. Those 
who remained encountered many misfortunes and dis- 
asters, and we read that in a battle in June, 1819 — the 
battle of Seven Oaks — twenty of the colonists lost their 
lives. Then they had to abandon their holdings and were 
reduced to terrible straits. The Earl returned to America 
in 1817 and, learning of the troubles in the Red River 
Valley, started there with a small but sufficient force to 
re-establish his authority. This was successful, life and 
property were rendered safe, and the last vestige of the 
Indian claims on the lands was removed by a solemn 
treaty with the chiefs of the Salteaux and Cree tribes. 
Lord Selkirk died at Paris in 1821, and in 1836 the Hud- 
son Bay Company repurchased the lands from his heirs 
for £84,000. From 181 7, however, Manitoba gradually 
advanced in population and importance, not by any 
" boom," but slowly and surely, and to-day it is one of 
the most progressive of the provinces in the Canadian 
federation. In its entire history Scotsmen crop out in 



on THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

every page and predominate in all the commercial, 
iinancial, manufacturing, mining, educational, legisla- 
tive, and other interests over those of all other nationali- 
ties. 

The Mackenzie River, one of the great waterways of 
Northwestern Canada — a navigable stream for over 800 
miles from the Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean — 
takes its name along with the name of the bay at its 
mouth from its discoverer, Sir Alexander Mackenzie. 
This indefatigable traveler was a native of Inverness, 
where he was born in 1755. He was a merchant in Cana- 
da, and after he became connected with the Northwest 
Fur Company, was able to indulge in his desire for ex- 
ploration. He traveled through the entire Northwest, 
penetrating over the Rockies to the Pacific, and told the 
story of his adventures and discoveries, notably that of 
the Mackenzie River, in 1789, in a modest sort of way 
in a work he published in 1801. In the following year 
he was knighted. Another Canadian merchant who be- 
came an explorer was Duncan McTavish, a native of 
Strathherrick, Inverness-shire. For twenty-four years he 
traveled through the Northwest in furtherance of the 
interests of the Northwest Company. He managed to 
win the entire confidence of the Indians, among whom 
his business transactions chiefly lay. While engaged in 
this service he anticipated one of the purposes of the 
Canadian Pacific Railway by conceiving the idea that 
the natural course of trade between the Orient and 
Europe was through Canada, and it was while making 
explorations with a view to mapping out a route for this 
trade that he was drowned, with six companions, near 
Cape Disappointment, on the Northern Pacific Ocean, 
in 181 5. The name of McTavish has been a prominent 
one in the history of the far Western Provinces of Cana- 
da. John George McTavish, one of the partners of the 
Northwest Company, was the conqueror at Astoria when 
that port had to be abandoned, and dictated the terms of 
surrender, although he did it on a liberal and honorable 
basis. Another of the same sept, William McTavish, who 



PIONEERS. 67 

left Scotland in 1833 and entered the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany as a clerk, became its chief factor in 1852. After- 
ward, as Governor of Assiniboia and of Rupert's Land, 
he did much good work by the introduction of law and 
order into those then wild territories. He died in Liver- 
pool, while on a European trip in search of health, in 
1872. 

Among the thousands of Scotsmen whose labors and 
enterprise made the Hudson Bay Company as impor- 
tant as it was to the early discovery and development of 
Canada, and its dividends so satisfactory to the pockets 
of its stockholders, none held a higher place or did more 
good work than George Simpson. He was a native of 
Lochbroom, Ross-shire, and commenced his business 
career as a clerk in a merchant's office in London. He 
there attracted the attention of Lord Selkirk, and through 
that nobleman's interest got an appointment in the serv- 
ice of the Hudson Bay Company. Early in 1820 Simpson 
sailed for Canada, and almost as soon as he reached 
Montreal started off to his post of duty in the then un- 
known lands around Lake Athabasca. His first Winter 
there w^as one of great privation, but he liked the work 
and saw in it an opportunity for a prosperous future. At 
that time the rivalry between the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany and the Northwest Company was at its height, but 
Simpson acted with such energy that when, in 1821, the 
rivals pooled their issues, he was appointed Governor of 
one of the departments. Indeed, it is asserted on good 
grounds that it was at his suggestion and through his 
diplomacy that the coalition of the rival companies was 
effected. Subsequently he was appointed Governor of 
Rupert's Land and General Superintendent of the Hud- 
son Bay Company's affairs. It was while holding these 
responsible positions that he promoted those schemes 
of discovery by which his name is most generally re- 
called. Under his direction most of the Arctic coast was 
surveyed, and his liberality, his apparently intuitive esti- 
mate of the capabilities of the men he employed, or was 
associated with, or called to his assistance, and his good 



G8 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

judgment in planning the various expeditions he fitted 
out were rewarded with knighthood in 1841. In that 
year he made a tour round the world, an account of 
which he afterward published in two handsome volumes. 
Sir George's closing years were spent at Lachine, near 
Montreal, and he took a leading part in financial affairs 
in that city. His hospitality was unbounded, and only 
a few days before his death, in i860, he entertained the 
Prince of Wales in a manner befitting the heir to the 
British throne. 

This representative Scot had a brother, Alexander 
Simpson, who was a trusted official of the Hudson Bay 
Company, was for a long time afterward British Consul 
at Hawaii, and enriched the literature of travel by the 
compilation of several vohuiies descriptive of places he 
had seen. The intellectual genius of the family, how- 
ever, was Thomas Simpson, a cousin of the two already 
mentioned. He was born at Dingwall in 1808, and had 
a brilliant career at Aberdeen University, where he won, 
among other honors, the Huttonian Prize. On complet- 
ing his studies, he went to Canada and entered the serv- 
ice of the Hudson Company. His immediate work seems 
to have been more scientific than commercial, however, 
and in 1836 he was placed in command of an expedition 
which succeeded in tracing the coast line from the mouth 
of the Mackenzie River to Point Barrow, and from the 
mouth of Coppermine River to the Gulf of Boothia. This 
expedition occupied over three years, and it was while 
returning from it, in 1840, that he was murdered by some 
Indians near Turtle River. He claimed in some of his 
memoranda and letters to have discovered a clear water 
passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and his 
claim was well founded, although the passage has been 
of no service to commerce. The dream of most of these 
Scotch explorers was to find a way for opening up a 
direct trade witli India and China, either through Canada 
or by water. At that time railroads were still in the 
stages of early experiment, and a practical waterway 
would have settled the question, while a route across the 



PIONEERS. 69 

continent would have been more difficult, and as tedious 
and costly as the long voyage around the Cape, which it 
was hoped to avoid. Nowadays the Suez Canal and the 
transcontinental railroad systems have brought the East 
very much nearer to the commercial centres of Europe 
and taken all the practical interest out of the once burn- 
ing question of a Xorthwest passage. 

Another name connected with the New Canada is that 
of Sir James Douglas, who passed away at Victoria, 
British Columbia, in 1877. He was born in Demerara, 
British Guiana, of Scotch parents. His father died when 
Tames was a lad, and he went with an elder brother to 
Canada. There he entered the service of the Northwest 
Company and was soon recognized as one of its most 
adventurous and indomitable agents. When that com- 
pany consolidated with its great rival he was advanced 
to the dignity of chief factor. Tn that capacity he visited 
even the most distant and outlying posts of the company 
and became as well acquainted with the '' primeval for- 
ests and everlasting hills " as the Indians themselves. 
His adventures were many and dangerous. Once, for 
instance, he was kept a close prisoner for six weeks by 
some Indians, and was so long prevented from reporting 
his whereabouts that he was supposed to have been 
killed by the red men, or to have died in the bush. In 
1833 he became chief agent of the region west of the 
Rocky Mountains, and in 1851 was made Governor of 
the infant colony of Vancouver. In 1859, when Van- 
couver w-as made a Crown colony, he was appointed its 
Chief Executive by the Government, and made a Com- 
panion of the Bath. In 1863 he received the honor of 
knighthood, and a year later retired to private life to 
enjoy a few years of well-earned rest before answering to 
the last great call — the call that summons all men. 

We have said that one of Sir George Simpson's quali- 
fications as a successful administrator lay in his ability 
to judge of the capacity of the men over whom he had 
control. An instance of this is given in the career of one 
of his most trusted associates, that of Robert Campbell, 



70 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

who died at Winnipeg in 1 890, at the ripe old age of 
eighty-six. Few adventurers attain such wealth of years, 
but it is noticeable of the Scotch pioneers in the Cana- 
dian Northwest that they were a long-lived race, in spite 
of the hardships and privations and dangers through 
wdiich they passed. Campbell was born in Perthshire 
and w^orked on his father's farm until his twenty-second 
year, when he entered the Hudson Bay Company's 
service. One of his first duties was to take part in an 
expedition to Kentucky to purchase a lot of sheep and 
convey them into the company's territory. The journey 
from Kentucky to Canada with the animals was a long 
and tedious one, and most of them died on the way. It 
was the result of his Qxperiences on this trip that induced 
Campbell, long afterward, to import to Manitoba West 
Highland cattle, a breed which is better adapted for 
standing the climate than any other. In 1834 he became 
attached to the agency at Fort Simpson, and showed his 
mettle by volunteering to establish a post on Dease's 
Lake, a position of great danger, as the Indians there 
were in the service of Russian traders and bitterly op- 
posed to the incursions of the British adventurers. He 
held his position there in spite of jealousies and dangers, 
and made it fairly remunerative. 

Enough has been said to show the pioneer services 
of the Scottish race, and we leave that branch of our 
subject here, although it might be extended almost in- 
definitely. Such names as those we have dwelt upon, 
and hundreds of others that might be mentioned, are 
really part and parcel of the history of the Northwestern 
provinces, and when that history comes to be fittingly 
written, the names of these Scotch pioneers, traders, and 
merchants will certainly, if the history be an honest one, 
receive due and deserved prominence. Nor is the race 
extinct even yet. The pioneers are no longer fur traders, 
but Government surveyors, and year after year the im- 
mense territory to the north of the settled strip along tliQ 
great lakes is being made known to the world by a num- 
ber of hardy scientists, and such names among them as 



PIONEERS. 7,] 

Gordon, Ogilvie, Ross, Robertson, and McLatchie are 
sufficiently indicative that Scotland is still to the front in 
bringing a knowledge of the resources of Canada to the 
civilized world. It was one of these pioneers, Andrew 
R. Gordon, a native of Aberdeen, who first demonstrated 
the advisability of a railroad connection between Winni- 
peg and Hudson's Bay, and when his plans are carried 
out, as they are certain sooner or later to be, Manitoba 
will be in direct, cheap, and comparatively easy com- 
munication with Europe for at least six months in each 
year, while Winnipeg will rival Glasgow as a commer- 
cial centre. 

Nor is the spirit of colonizing yet dead. It is still help- 
ing to people Manitoba and other new Canadian prov- 
inces, and every now and again we hear of fresh colonies 
arriving from the old land and settling down on the far 
West in this country as well as in Canada, and even in 
some of the Southern States. Sometimes such colonies 
turn out disastrously, as did one or two that settled a 
few years ago in North Carolina, mainly because they 
were badly managed and because the ground selected 
was unfitted for cultivation. In short, the colonies failed 
because the colonists were the victims of land sharks, 
and had not taken the precaution of fully acciuainting 
themselves with all the facts in the case. But such 
failures are exceptions, and these colonies are generally 
successful, even when they cast their lot in some of the 
older settled portions of the continent. In 1873 a colony 
was settled in Victoria County, New Brunswick, certain- 
ly not a part of Canada which is very extensively 
" boomed " for its fertility or its future. A recent visitor 
to the settlement writes: " The colony was organized by 
a Capt. Brown, belonging to Kincardineshire, who 
brought the people over in the Castilia, a steamer of 
whicli he was commander. A large proportion of thesq 
colonists were from the Mearns, some from Aberdeen, 
Montrose, Forfar, Kirriemtiir, and Glasgow. One man, 
I found, was from Inverarity. and his wife from Dundee. 
This lady told me she had been born and brought up in 



72 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Dundee, but had never been down the length of the 
[Broughty] Ferry. Those who have been most success- 
ful and are the most contented are those who have been 
at farm service in the Old Country. Here, they say, they 
enjoy a degree of independence, comfort, and style of 
living which they never could have attained at home." 

Thus, among the pioneers of the American Continent, 
in all classes, dignified and humble, we find the Scot 
holding a position v/hich is everywhere honorable to his 
nationality and helpful to the continent itself. His efiforts 
have ever been on the side of law and order, have ever 
been on conservative lines, and have been accomplished 
with a disregard of personal danger worthy of the repre- 
sentative of a nation whose struggle for civil and re- 
ligious freedom has made personal heroism to be ac- 
cepted by the world as one of the most noted character- 
istics of the race. 




CHAPTER III. 

COLONIAL, GOVERNORS. 

ONE of the most interesting figures in the mihtary 
service of King WilHam III. and of Queen Anne was 
Lord George Hamilton Douglas, son of Duchess Anne 
of Hamilton and her liusband, William. Earl of Selkirk, 
who was created Duke of Hamiltoii at her request. Lord 
George was born in 1666 and was bred a soldier. In 1690 
he was made a Colonel and two years later was in com- 
mand of the Royal Scots Regiment. His skill and bravery 
in the field, in Ireland and Flanders, conmiended him to 
King William, who awarded him the rank of Brigadier 
General, and in 1696 conferred on him the old Scotch 
title of Earl of Orkney. To complete his happiness, the 
King gave the wife of the new peer a grant of most of 
the private estates in Ireland of King James II. Queen 
Anne was profuse in her favors to the Earl of Orkney, 
who servecl with distinction in her wars, under Marl- 
borough, and helped very materially to win such victo- 
ries as Blenlieim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde. She com- 
missioned him a Lieutenant General, made him a Privy 
Councillor, a Knight of the Thistle, and he was one of 
the peers of Scotland who were returned to Parliament 
after the Union. King George I. continued the series of 
royal favors which marked the career of this favorite of 
fortune. He appointed him a " Gentleman Extraordi- 
nary " of the Bedchamber, an honorary office which gave 
the Earl a position at Court; Governor of Edinburgh 
Castle, Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire, a Field Mar- 
shal, and he died at London in 1737, in possession of all 
his faculties and honors. 
73 



74 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Anotiier of the honorary offices held 1)y this much 
favored individual was that of Governor of Virginia. The 
Earl of Orkney never saw America and knew nothing 
, of Virginia except its name, and probably cared little 
'about it except for the emoluments his office as its Gov- 
ernor brought him. Such titular honors were very nu- 
merous in the history of the royal families of Europe, 
and America since its discovery has furnished a goodly 
share of them. If Lord Orkney did Virginia no good, 
he certainly did it no harm, and that, at all events, is 
more than can be said of many of those who tried 
their hands at serious statesmanship by muddling and 
marring its affairs. His possession of the office gives 
him a sort of left-handed claim to recognition in a work 
like this, although he more properly belongs to the 
story of the Scot in Europe, in which, indeed, his 
achievements and honors make him a striking figure. 
Hardly as much can be said of a later Governor of Vir- 
ginia, whose connection with the province was also 
merely titular, and who never saw it, although he served 
with the army in America. That was John Campbell, 
fourth Earl of Loudoun, whose rather inglorious mili- 
tary career in America, as commander in chief of the 
forces, lasted a little over a year, and was terminated by 
his sudden recall. He was appointed Governor in 1756, 
but his time in America was devoted entirely to his mili- 
tary duties. His transatlantic failure did not apparently 
afifect his standing at home, and he continued the recipi- 
ent of many honors until his death, in 1782. 

William Drummond, who was Governor of " Albe- 
marle County Colony," was as active and aggressive in 
American affairs as the two personages just named were 
not. Drummond, who was a native of Perthshire, justly 
ranks as one of the earliest of American patriots. He 
took a prominent part in Nathaniel Bacon's insurrec- 
tion in 1676, an insurrection that was brought about by 
the insolence and pig-headedness of Sir William Berke- 
ley, then Governor of Virginia, to which Albemarle 
County (North Carolina) was subject. Drummond, who 



COLONIAL GOVEHNORS. 75 

is described by Bancroft as a " former Governor of North 
Carolina," did good work in that uprising in sup- 
porting the rights of tlie people, and, though he has been 
blamed for the part lie took in the burning of James- 
town, it might be pleaded that that act was, in the 
opinion of himself and his comrades, a grim necessity of 
war. When the insurrection was crushed by circum- 
stances which could not be foreseen, and Drummond 
was led a prisoner to the presence of Berkeley, that cow- 
ardly braggadocio said, exultingly: " You are very wel- 
come. I am more glad to see you than any man in 
A'irginia. You shall be hanged in half an hour." 
Glorifying in the part he had taken in the movement for 
individual liberty, Drummond met his fate like the brave 
man that he was, his only concern being about the future 
of his wife and children. So many lives were sacrificed 
in furtherance of the Governor's desire for revenge that 
even Charles II., who really valued no life but his own, 
exclaimed when the news was brought to him: " The old 
fool has taken away more lives in that- naked country 
than I for the murder of my father! " Drummond's 
wife and little ones were thrust from their home and re- 
duced to actual want, their necessities being relieved 
only by the charitable kindness of the neighboring 
planters. 

The most notable of the Scottish Colonial rulers of 
Virginia in many ways was Alexander Spottiswood, who 
served as Lieutenant Governor from 1710 to 1722. He 
was a scion of a noted family — the Spottiswoods of 
Spottiswood in Berwickshire, the descent of which could 
be traced back to the time of Alexander III. One of his 
ancestors fell at Flodden, and another at the time of the 
Reformation adopted the new tenets, became one of the 
leaders of the Kirk, was Superintendent (a title that did 
not exactly mean Bishop, but rather something like fore- 
man minister,) of Lothian, and was very prominent in 
national and church affairs until a few years before his 
death, in 1581. The Superintendent's son became Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews. The Archbishop's second son, 



76 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Sir Robert Spottiswood, President of the Court of Ses- 
sions and Secretary of State for Scotland, was beheaded 
for his devotion to the cause of the royal family of Stu- 
art. One of the sons of this unfortunate statesman left 
Scotland to seek his fortune, and became physician to 
the garrison at Tangiers. Governor Spottiswood was 
the only son of this wanderer. Spottisw^ood entered 
the army in early life, and served in Flanders under 
Marlborough, with the utmost credit. He was severely 
wounded at Blenheim. Among his friends in the army 
was the Earl of Orkney, with whose name we opened this 
chapter, and when that nobleman was appointed Gov- 
ernor of Virginia he secured the selection of Spottis- 
wood as Lieutenant. He proved a wise ruler in his ex- 
ecutive relations, and probably was the most popular of 
all the representatives of the crown who ever adminis- 
tered the affairs of the province. His first act, that of 
promulgating the habeas corpus law, was in itself an 
opening wedge to a term of popularity, and he availed 
himself of it to the utmost. He conciliated the red men 
and tried to improve their condition. He promoted 
education, and was enthusiastic over the fortunes of the 
recently establisJaed William and Mary College. He 
gave considerable thought to agricultural improvement} 
and was especially anxious and helpful in improving the 
cultivation of tobacco, at that time Virginia's great ex- 
port and principal source of wealth. He also introduced 
the manufacture of iron into the province, and sought 
by the aid of exploring parties to give to the world a 
correct conception of its resources and extent. Under 
him Virginia enjoyed a period of great prosperity, and 
its importance in every way was gieatly augmented. 
Had all the Colonial Governors been men of his stamp 
and brains there would have been no Revolution, for the 
need would never have arisen. 

Perhaps the secret of Governor Spottiswood's success 
lay in the fact that he seems to have made up his mind 
to settle permanently in the country. He was not a car- 
pet-bagger in the modern sense, or a gentleman advent- 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 77 

urer, as that term was employed in the reign of good 
Queen Anne. He aimed to promote the best interests of 
the country, to preserve the peace within its bounds by 
concihating all classes, by encouraging trade, and by 
jirotecting to the extent of his ability life, property, and 
personal liberty. He was a true patriot, and a true 
American citizen, and as his home was with the people 
he ruled, he had no temptation to grow rich at their ex- 
pense, that he might go elsewhere and have no further 
interest in the colony beyond the agreeable fancies of 
pleasant reminiscences. 

In many respects a Lieutenant Governor of a very 
different stamp was Robert Dinwiddle, who ruled over 
tlie destinies of Virginia from 1752 to 1758. He was 
born near Glasgow in 1690, his father being a mer- 
chant in that city, and his mother the daughter of one 
of its magistrates. Dinwiddie has often been spoken of 
as the discoverer of George Washington, as he was the 
first to call the " Father of His Country " into the pub- 
lic service, but if he ever entertained any regard for 
Washington it did not last very long. The time during 
which Dinwiddie stood at the helm in Virginia was one 
that required the exhibition of the most statesmanlike 
cjualities, and these Dinwiddie does not seem to have 
possessed. His mind was not of the comprehensive or- 
der; he could not look beyond the exigencies of the 
hour; he was fretful and spiteful, and more fond of ex- 
hibiting the powers than the graces of his olHce. Wash- 
ington Irving sums up his character in these stinging 
words, which seem to be a logical arraignment of his 
shortcomings if w^e may judge by the know-n facts in his 
career: " He set sail for England in 1758. very little re- 
gretted, excepting by his immediate hangers-on, and 
leaving a character overshadowed by the imputation of 
avarice and extortion in the exaction of illegal fees and of 
downright dehnquency in regard to large sums trans- 
mitted to him by Government to be paid over to the 
province in indemnification of its extra expenses, for the 
disposition of which he failed to render an account. He 



78 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

was evidently a sordid, narrow-minded, and somewhat 
arrogant man; bustling rather than active; prone to 
meddle witli matters of which he was profoundly igno- 
rant, and absurdly unwilling to have his ignorance en- 
lightened." It seems a pity for the sake of Dinwiddle's 
good name that he had not remained in Glasgow and 
become a merchant, possibly a deacon, like his father 
and a bailie like his maternal grandfather. 

One of the titled Governors of Virginia who was much 
more than a mere nonentity was John, fourth Earl of 
Dunmore. His family was an offshoot of the ducal one 
of Athol. He was destined for a military career, but 
was poor and unable to add much to his wealth by the 
chance of war, while his wife, though a daughter of the 
ancient house of Galloway, did not bring him any very 
tangible accession to his worldly goods. When, there- 
fore, he received the appointment, in 1770, of Governor 
of New York, he gladly accepted it, because he saw in 
the appointment a chance of increasing his personal re- 
sources. In short, he crossed over to America simply to 
make as much money as he could out of it, and without 
much concern as to whether or not the country was to 
be benefited by his services. It was, however, a period 
demanding the utmost tact and diplomacy, qualities 
Lord Dunmore either did not possess, or did not deem 
it worth his while, when he had the chance, to exhibit; 
and in these facts lie the causes for his ignoble American 
career, and the poltroonery, the crime, the silliness by 
which it was most distinguished. The Revolutionary 
movement at the time of Lord Dunmore's arrival in 
America was approaching a crisis. Discontent was in 
the air, uneasiness was prevalent everywhere. But the 
Virginians were then loyal to the crown, and a wise 
Governor should have strengthened that loyalty by 
every means in his power, instead of acting in a manner, 
as Lord Dunmore did, to deepen the discontent, to fan 
the flames of sedition and to drive the people into open 
revolt. Had his Lordship really been a statesman he had 
the opportunity while in America of doing yeoman serv- 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 79 

ice for his sovereign, but his actions while in the coun- 
try failed to exhibit any signs of his possession of that 
quality. He was for self first, last, and all the time, and 
when Virginia was too hot to hold him — he ran away. 

While m New York Lord Dunmore was very popu- 
lar, for his term of service did not last long enough to 
bring anv of his ignoble qualities to the front, but he 
seems to have attended strictly to his " ain "' business 
and acquired some 50,000 acres of land in the State. 
He was transferred to the much more valuable post of 
Virginia in less than a year, and was heartily welcomed 
on his arrival in his new sphere of usefulness. His first 
act bound him closely to the hearts of the Virginians, 
for he indorsed cordially their remonstrances to the Home 
Government against the continuation of the slave trade. 
This popularity continued for two or three years, during 
which time he waxed rich in land and fees and concealed 
liis personal schemes with the utmost craft. In 1774, 
when he was joined by liis Countess, the Assembly pre- 
sented her with an address of welcome, and got up a 
grand ball in her honor. When her daughter was born 
she named it Virginia in honor of a province which had 
so warmly welcomed her. A year later the poor woman 
was glad to take refuge on a British vessel, as she con- 
sidered her life in danger at the hands of these same 
Mrginians. Lord Dunmore's troubles came on him all 
in a heap. He had had a little war with the red men, and 
had conducted it so successfully and had brought about 
such a favorable peace that the Legislature gave him a 
sort of vote of confidence, in which his management of 
afifairs was spoken of as " truly noble, wise, and spirited." 
His agents, however, were out trying to annex lands, 
and win fees, as far West as Cincinnati, and some even 
operated on the soil of Pennsylvania, inviting trouble 
and complaint from that quarter. Then, when the 
troubles with the home country were elsewhere ap- 
proaching a crisis, he precipitated the outbreak in Vir- 
ginia by seizing tlic powder stored in Williamsburg, by 
his arrogant manner, by his threatening to arm the ne- 



go .-THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

groes and the Indians against the white residents, and 
by several other nnwise sayings and doings. It is not 
to be wondered at that Lady Dunniore was soon joined 
on the vessel in which she had taken refuge by her hus- 
band, himself a fugitive, and that Virginia quickly threw 
of¥ her allegiance and ranged herself on the side of the 
Revolutionists. The rest of Dunmore's American story 
is equally contemptible. His wanton destruction of 
Norfolk cannot be defended on grounds either of mili- 
tary necessity or the demands of statesmanship, and 
when he finally returned to Britain, it was with anything 
but the record of a hero. But his prestige does not ap- 
pear to have suffered, although it might truly be said 
that his foolishness and personal greed had lost Britain 
a province. He continued to be elected to Parliament 
by his brother peers of Scotland, and in 1787 he was 
sent to the Bahamas as Captain General and Governor, 
and there resided, an inoffensive figurehead, for several 
years before he returned home again to adorn society 
until his death, in 1806. 

It is refreshing to turn from such a personage to recall 
the nobler career of George Johnstone, who was nom- 
inated in 1763 Governor of Florida, when that colony 
was ceded by Spain to Great Britain. Johnstone, who 
belonged to the family of Johnstone of Westerhall, was a 
Captain in the Royal Navy, a hero in every sense of 
the word, and a capable man of affairs, as was abund- 
antly proved by his course in Florida, and his career 
in Parliament. In 1778 he was one of the Commission- 
ers sent out by the British Government to try and re- 
store peace in America, and was noted as being out- 
spoken in his sympathy with the American people, and 
in his condemnation of the wrongs which had driven 
them into revolt. But events had by that time pro- 
gressed so far that peace could only be procured through 
independence or annihilation, and so the commission ac- 
complished no practical result, but Johnstone, by a cu- 
rious turn in his thoughts and sympathies, then changed 
his ideas of the American people and thenceforth was 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 81 

among their bitterest detractors. Gov. Johnstone's term 
of office is additionally interesting in that it was the 
means of bringing James Macpherson, the translator of 
Ossian, to the country, although only for a short time. 
In Mr. Bailey Saunders's interesting monograph on that 
literary hero, we read: " In October (1763) one George 
Johnstone was gazetted Governor of the Western Prov- 
inces and ordered to Pensacola. Like most of the other 
American Governors, Jolinstone was a Scotchman. Mac- 
pherson was ofifered an appointment as his secretary, and, 
in addition, the posts of President of the Council and 
Surveyor General. It was a strange shift in the breeze of 
his fortune, and of the reasons which led him to yield to 
it we have no knowledge. He may have resented the 
treatment which he was receiving from men of letters in 
London, or he may have fotind himself in pecuniary or 
other difficulties. Certain it is, that in the early part of 
the following year, he set his sails for America. He was 
absent about two years, btit only a portion of that time 
was spent at Pensacola, for he soon quarrelled with his 
chief and departed on a visit to some of the other prov- 
inces. After a tour in the West Indies he returned in 
1766. As Surveyor General, he had received a salary of 
£200 a year. In a day when pensions formed a larger 
part of the machinerv of the State than at present, Mac- 
pherson was allowed to retain it for life on the condition, 
so far as can be gathered, that he should devote himself 
henceforth to political writing." America seems, however, 
to have made little impression on the hero of the Ossianic 
controversy, if we may estimate the extent of that im- 
13ression by his silence. 

A notable and lovable, and, in every way conmiend- 
able, career was that of Gabriel Johnston, who was Gov- 
ernor of North Carolina from 1734 till his death, in 
Chowan County, in that State, in 1752. Little is known of 
his early career in Scotland except that he was born there 
in 1699 and that he studied medicine at St. Andrews Uni- 
versity, but he had a predilection for the study of lan- 
guages and never practiced. Instead, he became Professor 



82 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

of Oriental Languages at St. Andrews, and taught for 
several years. Then he removed to London and became 
a literary hack, his most notable employment being un- 
der Lord Bolingbroke on the latter's periodical, " The 
Craftsman." Johnston crossed the Atlantic in 1730, in- 
tending to settle in America, and three years later, 
through the influence of the Earl of Wilmington, he was 
appointed Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, and 
showed his gratitude, among other ways, by naming the 
town of Wilmington after his benefactor. Johnston's life 
here was one of peacefulness. His administration was in 
every way wise and beneficent, and, although even in his 
time there were murmurs against the Home Government, 
he kept his charge well in hand and thoroughly loyal to 
the Crown. One of his first acts as Governor was to urge 
upon the Colonial Assembly the need of making pro- 
vision for a thorough school system, and in educational 
matters he took a deep personal interest to the end. It 
was during his administration, too, that the great influx 
of Scotch Highlanders took place into North Carolina. 
Thousands of these people settled in the Counties of 
Bladen, Cumberland, Robeson, Moore, Richmond, and 
Hamet. among others, and their descendants predomi- 
nate in these sections till the present day. At Gov. 
Gabriel's suggestion, his brother, John Johnston, crossed 
to America from Dundee in 1736, and settled in North 
Carolina. Among the rest of this man's family was a child 
who had been born in Dundee three years before. This 
was Samuel Johnston, afterward a noted figure in the 
history of the State. At the Governor's suggestion, Sam- 
uel studied for the bar, and in a short time after he had 
passed was in possession of a large practice. When he 
grew to manhood he knew no other country except that 
in which he had been raised, and was one of the earliest 
to earn the title of patriot. When the troubles with the 
mother country began to take practical shape, Samuel 
Johnston was one of the trusted leaders of the Americans 
in the State. In 1775 he was elected Chairman of the 
Provincial Council, and as such, by force of circum- 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. • 83 

stances, which need not be enlarged upon here, virtually 
Governor of the State. I'ancroft says ot him at this junct- 
ure: " On the waters of Albemarle Sound * * * the 
movement [for freedom, or at least a removal of oppres- 
sion] was assisted by the writings of young James Ire- 
dell, from England, by the letters and counsels of yovmg 
Joseph Hewes, and by the calm wisdom of Samuel John- 
ston, a native of Dundee, in Scotland, a man revered for 
his integrity, thoroughly opposed to disorder and revolu- 
tion, if revolution could be avoided without yielding to 
oppression." When the die w^as tiinally cast and absolute 
separation from the mother country was demanded, John- 
ston did not liinch, but cast in his lot with those who de- 
manded independence. He was a member of the Conti- 
nental Congress in 1781 and 1782, was elected Governor 
of his State in 1788, served four years in the Senate of the 
United States, and from 1800 to 1803 was a Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. He closed his long, 
useful, and patriotic career at Edenton, North Carolina, 
in 181 6, and his memory is yet one of the greenest in that 
beautiful State. 

Besides furnishing in these later days a popular Gov- 
ernor General to the Dominion of Canada, in the person 
of the Marquis of Lome, the house of Argyll has given at 
least two Governors to territories south of the St. Law- 
rence. One of these was Lord William Campbell, youngest 
son of the fourth Duke of Argyll. He served in the Royal 
Navy and held the rank of Captain when, in 1766, he was 
appointed Governor of Nova Scotia. He arrived at Hali- 
fax on Nov. 27 of that year, and at once assumed control 
of affairs. He proved ^a satisfactory, if not a brilliant 
administrator and enjoyed the confidence of the people. 
He faithfully carried their representations to the Home 
Government and preserved the relations of the colony to 
the mother country unimpaired. He was watchful over 
the morals of the people, too, and in one of his orders he 
peremptorily forbade public horse racing at Halifax on 
account of its tending to " gambling, idleness, and im- 
morality." In 1763 he married Sarah Izard, belonging to 



84 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

a wealthy South Carohna family, and sister of that Ralph 
Izard who became distinguished as an American patriot, 
as a warm friend and unwavering supporter of Washing- 
ton, and as the first representative of South Carolina in 
the United States Senate. It was his union with this lady 
that led, in one way or another, to his receiving the 
appointment, in 1775, of Governor of South Caro- 
lina, and thither he removed in that year. Before he left 
Nova Scotia he was presented vAth an address of thanks 
from the Legislature, extolling his career as Governor 
and regretting that circumstances should sever their 
pleasant relations. Lord William was probably not very 
long at his new sphere of duty ere he joined in that re- 
gret. The Commonwealth was really in a state of re- 
bellion when Lord William arrived, and the address 
wdiich the Provincial Council addressed to him on that 
occasion must have sounded strange in his ears. " No lust 
of independence," it said, " has the least influence upon 
our councils; no suljjects more sincerely desire to testify 
their loyalty and affection. We deplore the measures 
which, if persisted in, must rend the British Empire. 
Trusting the event to Providence, we prefer death to 
slavery." What was wanted in such a crisis was a policy 
of conciliation, an exhibition of statesmanship. Lord 
William tried an opposite policy and appears to have been 
utterly destitute of the necessary qualities to guide a 
statesman in a storm. His sunercilious contempt for the 
claims and opinions of the Carolinians helped only to 
embitter them still more. Pie held out no hope of relief 
or remedy in connection with the wrongs which had 
driven them to take the stand they did. In place of trying 
to adjust these wrongs, to soften the people's thoughts, 
to induce them to reason with him, he contented himself 
with indulging in threats. " I warn you," he foolishly 
said to the Legislature, "of the danger you are in; the 
violent measures adopted cannot fail of drawing down 
inevitable ruin on this flourishing colony." His value as 
a statesman in a crisis mav be judged-from the fact that 
he was unable to grasp the meaning of the American 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 85 

troubles or the extent of the fechng in the hearts of the 
people. " Three regiments, a proper detachment of artil- 
lery, with a couple of good frigates, some small craft, and 
a bombketch would do the whole business here and go a 
great way to reduce Georgia and North Carolina to a 
sense of their duty. Charleston is the fountain head from 
whence all violence flows; stop that, and the rebellion in 
this part of the continent will soon be at an end." It was 
not long after writing this rigmarole that Lord William 
had to take refuge on a small British warship, " The 
Tamer," and to leave the affairs of his province to be 
managed by its people. After a vain attempt to overawe 
the Colonists by a show of resistance from the water, he 
passed from American view, to reappear again about a 
year later in an unsuccessful naval attack on Charleston 
Harbor, and in that engagement he was mortally wound- 
ed. Like most of his race, he was a brave man, but he 
really had little administrative ability. In the loyal quiet- 
ness of Nova Scotia he did well enough, but when he 
became a prominent figure in " the time that tried men's 
souls," he was a distressing failure. At the moment he 
assumed its government, South Carolina, says Bancroft, 
" needed more than ever a man of prudence at the head 
of the administration, and its new Governor owed his 
place only to his birth." 

New Jersey in the Colonial days was a favorite settling 
place for Scotch refugees, and, naturally, for Scotch Gov- 
ernors, Many of the Presbyterian exiles sought the 
liberty of conscience which was denied them at home in 
its then wild but fruitful territories, and among the early 
" proprietors " we find the names of many Scotch noble- 
men and oi^cial dignitaries, and it was after one of them, 
an Earl of Perth, that the once great rival of New York, 
Perth Amboy, was named. The Quakers, too, began to 
see in it a place where their doctrines could be lived up 
to without molestation, and one of the most famous of 
their number, Robert Barclay of Ury, was appointed 
Governor of East Jersey in 1682. Barclay, author of the 
still classic " Apology for the Quakers," never visited 



80 



Till'; SCOT IN ami;ui(;a. 



lii', tonilory; but, iicvcrl li'N'SS, liis iiilliicticc in it was 
j^rcal, and wliilt- Oualscr iiilliiciicc |)rc(|i)iiiiiiatc<l- a 
pcriofi of about twenty years tlie colony enjoyed won- 
(lerfnl pio, peril y. I'.arclay appointed ;i', his de]jnly (iavin 
l.nnrie, .1 native of i',dinl»urtdi, ;i ni;ni of peace, who de 
voted hiniseh lo developin;'_ the resources of liis cliarj.',!', 
and the eomforl ;nid w< II hiini'; of its ])eo])le. I le was a 
pood I nil I , and ;e, nnn h ni;iv !)<■ s.-nd ol Ali'xander Skene, 
;niollier Oii;d-.er ( iov<-rnor, ;i n;ilive of Al)ei<leen. 

Lord ,\'eil ( '.inipbell, son of ihe iniitli I'.ail of Argyll, 
visited New Jc-rsey as its ( iovernor in \(>^'/, iiavin^' pre 
vionsly houj^Iit, or seciu'cd in some way, the Irnids of Sir 
( ieorj^c Macken/ie the " I'hiidy Macken/ie " of the 
( 'ovenanters. Lord ,\'eih however, stayed liille lonj^cr 
lli;in to see some of the land over whieli he was thus 
noniin.div nihr, ;ind does not ;ippe;n' to ji.ive meddled 
with ils ;dr;iir, in ;hiv vv.'iv. Mis depniv, Amlrew ll;iinil 
Ion, ni.ide np in pr;;el le.il woi k foi- his lordslii])"s cpiali 
I ies of noneni il ss I l.nnillon \', ;i!, horn a1 I'.dinhnrj^h ahoni 
l()2'/, ii\\(\ for a lime was a in( reh.'inl in that <itv. Me was 
sent to New jersey as aj^'cnt for I he S( oleh " |)roprietors," 
;uid on l.fird Neil (';impl)eirs dep.irlnre hee.'mie .'leliii^;' 
( lovenior. Me w;is ;in ;it;tM cssi ve smiI ol person;it;e, ;md 
his oriiei.'d e;ncer was r;illier a slorni\' one, hnl he did 
j^ood servile to the \<)nn;; eonnli\. Me \\,as the hrsi lo 
orj^ani/e a postal servii c in I he < 'ok mics, li.i viii}^ ohlaineil 
;i p;ilenl lor a poslal scheme hum Ihe ( Vown in i()i).\. 
Lov. Andrew llamilhiii died al Ihn lin!.;lon, \'<'w Jersey, 
ini/O,^. II is s( m John, who died ;il I 'erili Anihoy in 17. K>, 
was also foi .1 lime actini; (ioveimir of New |ersi'y, and 
his }';rands()n, himes, was the InsI nalive hoin ( iovernoi" 
of I 'enns\ l\ ania. 

Am il hi-r < il iverm )r ( il I 'einrs\ Ivania of Scotch descent 
was Ihonias McKisan, wIim enleied pnhlic life ;is a 
|)epnl\' Allorne\ ( ieneral in 175''. ;ind nliicd in iSoS, 
li.avin^ in Ihe inlei \cnin!^ years held .ilniiisl ever\' oHice 
in the j.;iM of ihe people, in .S|.iic Liidslalnre, in ( 'on- 
j^ress, in Ihe held as a >i>lili< 1, on the heni'li as ( hief |ns- 
lice ol I 'en ns\ Ivania h m I u cnl \ \ cars, and as ( loveiiior of 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 87 

tlic State for nine years, lie enjoyed a rare record for 
a career of usefulness, in the course of which he exhib- 
ited the highest ciualities of an orator, a jurist, and an 
executive. He was proud of his descent from Scotch for- 
bears, and showed his pride publicly in 1792, when he 
joined the ranks of the Philadelphia St. Andrew's Society. 

The n;ost notable of the Scotch Governors of Penn- 
sylvania, however, was Sir William Keith, who was born 
at Peterhead in 1680, and was the son of Sir William 
Keith. He was Ciovernor from 1717 till 1726, l)Ut left be- 
hind him a record for vanity, intrigue and misgovernment, 
all of which, however, occupies so large a s])ace in the 
early history of Pennsylvania as not to need recital here. 
Keith was a man of the world. He liverl for self and 
his life was a failure, for he died in London in 1749, while 
a prisoner for debt, in the Old Bailey. 

New York had its full quota of Scottish ( Governors. 
The first of them in point of time, and in many ways the 
most distinguished, was Major Gen. Roljert Hunter, 
grandson of Patrick Iduntcr, of Hunterston, Ayrshire, the 
head of an ancient family. ]^obert Hunter was born at 
Hunterston and commenced life as a soldier. In 1707 
he was commissioned Governor of Virginia and started 
out to take possession of his political prize, but on the 
voyage the ship in which he was a ])assenger was capt- 
ured by a I'Tench vessel, and tlie budding Governor was 
carried to Paris, a prisoner cjf war. He never saw Vir- 
ginia, and his a])pointment to the high office of its chief 
Executive has been doubted, but his conmiission is still 
extant and carefully preserved among the curiosities of 
the Historical Society of Virginia 

Gen. Hunter's real American exjK'rience conmienced 
in June, 1710, when he entered u])on his duties as Gover- 
nor of New York. He accepted the appointment with 
the primal view of adding to his fortune, but he had a 
conscience that prevented him from seeking to increase 
his wealth by means which were in direct variance to the 
welfare of the community among whom his lot was cast. 
After being about a year in his office he saw that the de- 



88 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

velopment of the colony could only be hastened by add- 
ing to its population by means of immigration, and, hav- 
ing conceived a scheme about the manufacture of naval 
stores by which he might enrich himself, he proceeded to 
develop the resources of the country and increase his 
own wealth by the introduction of some 3,000 German 
laborers from the Palatinate. These people were settled 
on the banks of the Hudson River, mainly on lands be- 
longing to the Livingstons, and were to produce tar and 
turpentine. Their passage money was to be repaid out of 
their earnings, and on the same terms they were to be 
supplied at first with the necessaries of life. As might be 
expected, the scheme was a failure. The immigrants were 
virtually contract slaves and were soon so dissatisfied 
with their lot that they refused to work, and, when he 
washed his hands of the affair and left the immigrants 
to shift for themselves, the Governor was crippled finan- 
cially very seriously. His greatest claim to remembrance 
is his establishing of a complete Court of Chancery in 
the colony, and, although he doubtless saw in such a 
court a rich harvest of fees and opportunities for patron- 
age, the good accomplished by a tribunal of that descrip- 
tion, especially in a developing colony, where new and 
intricate questions were daily demanding decisions — de- 
cisions which were for all time to rank as precedents — 
should not be ignored. In many ways Gov. Hunter was 
a model ruler. In questions of religion he was extremely 
tolerant, and he believed in every man being permitted to 
worship as he thought best. He indulged in no wildcat 
schemes and encouraged no extravagant outlay of public 
money. He understood the art of managing men and 
was on equally good terms with all the parties in the col- 
ony. Very popular he was not, and never could be, for he 
represented a sovereign power in the person of the King, 
while all round him in New York was developing the 
theory that the source of all power, even the power to 
name Governors and Judges, should be the people con- 
cerned. Still he preserved intact the supremacy of his 
royal master and maintained peace or harmony in the 



COLONIAL, GOVERNORS. gg 

colony, although he foresaw very clearly that a struggle 
between the two was certain sooner or later. " The Colo- 
nies are infants at their mother's breast," he wrote to 
Lord Bolingbrokc, then British Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs, " but such as will wean themselves when 
they become of age." 

When Gov. Hunter retired from the Colony, in 1719, 
the Assembly gave him an address in which they lauded 
his administration of affairs and expressed the opinion 
that he had " governed well and wisely, like a prudent 
magistrate; like an affectionate parent." This praise seems 
to have been thoroughly well deserved, and even Amer- 
ican writers acknowledge that his of^cial record was not 
only an able, but a clean one. He was possessed of more 
than ordinary talent, was a warm friend of such men as 
Addison, St. John, Steele, Shaftesbury, and especially of 
Dean Swift, who appears to have entertained for him as 
undoubted sentiments of respect and friendship as he en- 
tertained for any man. " Hunter," wrote John Forster, 
in his unfinished life of the great Dean of St. Patrick's, 
" was among the most scholarly and entertaining of his 
(Swift's) correspondents; some of Swift's own best letters 
were written to this friend, and the judgment he had 
formed of him may be taken from the fact that when all 
the world was giving to himself the authorship of Shaftes- 
bury's anonymously printed ' Letter on Enthusiasm,' 
.Swift believed Hunter to have written it." 

Gov. Hunter married the widow of an old companion 
in arms in the Marlborough campaigns, Lord John Hay, 
son of the second Marquis of Tweeddale, and Colonel of 
the Scots Greys. She was the daughter and heiress of Sir 
Thomas Orby, a Lincolnshire Baronet, and brought him 
considerable wealth. He, however, continued in official 
harness to the last and died at Jamaica in 1734, while 
holding the post of Governor of that island, one of the 
plums of the then colonial service. 

Gov. Hunter's successor in New York was also a 
Scotsman — William Burnet. This amiable man was the 
son of the famous Bishop Burnet, and grandson of Rob- 



90 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ert Burnet of Crimond, one of the Scotch Lords of Ses- 
sion. WilHam Burnet was educated at Cambridge and 
admitted to the practice of the law. He appears to have 
been fairly successful, but lost all his means in the South 
Sea bubble, and, finding himself ruined, looked around 
so that he might use his great family influence to secure 
for him a colonial appointment. His success was quick, 
and in September, 1720, he found himself in New York 
as its Governor. His administration was as able and as 
honest as that of his predecessor, and he made himself 
immensely popular by his prohibition of trade between 
the Indians of New York and the merchants in Canada, 
and he even built a fort at his personal expense to help 
in protecting the trade of the colony over which he ruled. 
The Home Government, however, refused to indorse 
Burnet's course in this instance, bvtt that only added to 
his personal popularity. He lost it all, however, by the 
policy he adopted toward the Court of Chancery. Briefly 
stated, he wanted to make that body independent of pub- 
lic sentiment and above public interference, while Colonial 
sentiment was that all Judges and all courts should be 
subject to the control of the people, either directly or 
through their elected representatives. Things reached 
such a pass that the Assembly threatened to declare all 
acts and decrees of the Court of Chancery as null and 
void, and reduced all its fees as a preliminary step in that 
direction. The crisis between the Governor and the peo- 
ple was ended, greatly to the former's relief, in 1728, 
when he was transferred to the Governorship of Massa- 
chusetts. He had not much time to make a name for him- 
self there, for he died at Boston in 1729. 

Another Scotsman, John Montgomerie, was sworn in 
as Burnet's successor in the New York Governorship on 
April 15, 1728. He was a scion of the noble house of 
Eglinton, being the son of Francis Montgomerie of 
GifTen, who was a son of Alexander, sixth Earl of Eglin- 
ton. John Montgomerie was an olihcer in the Guards and 
was a member of Parli?ment from 1710 to 1722. He occu- 
pied a high position in society and married a daughter of 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 9J 

the Earl of Hyndford; but his habits were erratic, hia 
tastes extravagant, and he became inextricably involved 
in debt. His ancestral estate had to be sold and he was 
glad to accept a minor post at the Court of George I. — 
the ' wee, wee, German lairdie." It was in the hope of 
benefiting his fortunes that he secured the appointment 
as the royal representative in New York, but his useful- 
ness was gone. His service as Governor was not marked 
by any matter of importance. He seemed to be in weak- 
health from the day he landed, and he died July 31, 1731. 
If, however, Gov. Montgomerie occupies but a small 
share in the historical annals of the colony. Gov. Golden, 
the last of the Scottish Governors, or British Governors, 
whose executive rights were recognized by the people, 
had a very important position in public affairs for the 
fifteen years preceding the Revolution. Cadwallader Col- 
den was born at Dunse in 1688. His father, the Rev. Al- 
exander Golden, was minister of Dunse, and Cadwallader 
was educated at Edinburgh University, with the view of 
entering the ministry. His own inclination, however, led 
him to study medicine, and he appears to have practiced 
that profession in London. In 1710 he crossed the sea 
to Philadelphia. His stay there was comparatively short, 
for we find him again in London in 1715, when he moved 
in the highest intellectual and literarv circles. In 1716 he 
returned to Scotland and married a Kelso girl, the daugh- 
ter of a minister, and soon after left his native land again 
for America. After practicing medicine for a time in 
]^hiladelphia, he visited New York and won the friend- 
ship of Gov. Hunter, who invited him to settle in the ter- 
ritory under his jurisdiction. This he agreed to, mainly 
because HLunter baclced up his professions of friendship 
l)y the more tangible offer of the position of Surveyor 
General of the Colony. Two years later Golden had so 
fortified his position with the ruling powers that he ob- 
tained a grant of 2,000 acres of land in Orange County 
and there built a country home for himself and founded 
a village, to which he gave the name of Coldenham, 
\A'hich it still retains. His influence was increased after he 



92 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

was appointed, in 1722, a member of His Majesty's Pro-( 
vincial Council, when Gov. Burnet had commenced his; 
rule, and he became tJiat personage's most trusted coun-i 
sellor. After Burnet went to Boston, Golden retired to' 
Goldenham, and there interested himself in those literary 
and scientific pursuits which gave him a prominent posi- 
tion in contemporary learned circles. He had a wide 
correspondence with scientists on both sides of the Atlan- 
tic, and to a suggestion in one of his letters was due the 
formation of the American Philosophical Society of Phil- 
adelphia. As a member of Gouncil, however, Golden 
still continued to be active in the politics of the province, 
and, as usual, came in for a full share of popular and 
official criticism and abuse. In 1760, as senior member 
of Gouncil, he was called upon to administer the Govern- 
ment on the sudden death of Gov. De Lancey. There- 
after, with a few interruptions, he served as Lieutenant 
Governor until June 25, 1775, Vv'hen the progress of the 
Revolution laid him on the shelf by wiping out the royal 
office. Had Golden thrown in his lot with the Revolu- 
tionists, he might have attained a high place in the affec- 
tions of the leaders of the successful side, but he remained 
steadfast in his loyalty and to the official oaths he had 
taken to be faithful to the Home Government, and while 
his sympathies were always with the people and his views 
were decidedly against unwarranted State interference 
and against taxation without representation, he was too 
old to renounce his allegiance, too near the end of his pil- 
grimage to change his flag. Besides, he was of the opin- 
ion that all the evils which led to the Revolution could be 
amended by united and firm representation to the sov- 
ereign and his immediate advisers, and that, therefore, 
open rebellion was needless. So when the crash finally 
came, and his proclamations, promises, explanations, 
diplomacy, and entreaties proved unavailing, the old 
Governor retired to a farm near Flushing, L. I., and died 
of a broken heart a few months later, in September, 1776, 
when in the eighty-eighth year of his age. After the bit- 
terness of the contemporary struggle had passed away, 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 93 

the public services and brilliant talents of this most ac- 
complished of all New York's royal Governors was more 
apparent than at the time when he was an actor in the 
drama of history, and his loyal devotion to the duties of 
his hig-h ot-hce became fully acknowledged on all sides. 
" Posterity," wrote Dr. O'Callaghan in his " Document- 
ary History of the State of New York," in summing up 
the life work of Golden, " will not fail to accord justice to 
the character and memory of a man to whom this country 
is most deeply indebted for much of its science and for 
many of its most important institutions, and of whom the 
State of New York may well be proud." And H. G. Ver- 
planck said: "For the great variety and extent of 
his learning, his unwearied research, his talents, and the 
public sphere in which he lived, Gadwallader Golden may 
justly be placed in a high rank among the most dis- 
tinguished men of his time." The grandson of Governor 
Golden was Mayor of New York from 1818 to 1821, and 
in that office had an enviable record. 

For a brief period, in 1780, James Robertson was the 
nominal Governor of New York. He was born in Scot- 
land in 1710, and was a soldier by profession. His record 
in America, while he held office under his commission as 
Governor, is not, it must be confessed, a creditable one, 
and we may dismiss him with the statement that his office 
as Governor was merely a titular one, and he never as- 
sumed legislative functions. He was a soldier pure 
and simple, and^ had the Revolutionists been defeated, 
might have swayed executive power. But the crisis was 
virtually passed when he came upon the scene, and we 
need not follow his doings further than to say that he 
returned to Britain in safety from the conflict and died in 
England in 1788. 

After the Revolution, the history of the United States 
presents us with several instances of Scotsmen holding 
the office of Governor in one of the confederated Gom- 
monwealths. Among the earliest of these was Edward 
Telfair, who was for several years (1786. 1790-3) Gov- 
ernor of Georgia. He was born in the Stewartry of 



94 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Kirkcudbright, in 1735, ^^'^ educated at the Kirkcud- 
bright Grammar School. He left Scotland in 1758, to 
become agent in America for a commercial house, and, 
after residing in Virginia and North Carolina, removed, 
in 1766, to Savannah, Ga., where he engaged in busi- 
ness. When the Revolutionary troubles commenced, he 
heartily espoused the American side, and became known 
locally as an ardent advocate of liberty. He was elected 
in 1778 a delegate to the Continental Congress, and 
served in that capacity also from 1780 to 1783. In the 
latter year he was appointed a Commissioner to treat 
with the Cherokees, then, as before, and long after, a 
troublesome problem in Georgia. Telfair was regarded 
as the foremost citizen of his adopted State, and his 
death, at Savannah, in 1807, was deeply mourned, not 
only in that Commonwealth, but by all throughout the 
country who had taken any part in the struggle which 
gave the Stars and Stripes a place among the flags of the 
nations. His son, Thomas, who graduated at Princeton 
in 1805, gave promise of a brilliant career. He was a 
member of the House of Representatives from 1813 to 
1817, and but for his untimely death, in 1818, would 
doubtless have attained higher honors in his State and 
in the nation. 

A good example of the later Governors is found in W. 
E. Smith, who in 1877 and in 1879 was elected to the 
Executive Chair of Wisconsin by large popular votes. 
Mr. Smith was taken to America when a boy, and his 
earlier years were spent in the States of New York and 
Michigan. Finally, he settled at Fox Lake, Wis., where 
he engaged in business and acquired considerable means. 
In 185 1 he served his first term as a member of the State 
Legislature, and was Speaker of that body in 1871. On 
retiring from public life. Governor Smith devoted him- 
self to religious and philanthropic enterprises. He was 
a member of the Baptist Church, and took a keen in- 
terest in its progress, and in all movements for the relief 
of misery or for improving the moral tone of the com- 
munity in which he was recognized as a leader. Governor 



COLONIAL, GOVERNORS. C 

Devericlge of Illinois, Governor Moonlight of Kansa 
and Governor Ross of New Mexico, are among the 
other Governors the Scottish race has furnished to 
American Commonwealths. 

Turning to the history of Canada, we find that one of 
its earliest rulers was Samuel Veitch, who was Governor 
of Nova Scotia, and had in many respects the career of a 
typical Scot abroad. He was born at Edinburgh in 1668, 
and was the son of a noted Presbyterian minister. After 
studying at the University of Edinburgh, he passed over 
to Holland and entered the College of Utrecht. Al- 
though a clerical career had been proposed for him, his 
inclinations were for the army, and he attached himself to 
the Court of William of Orange, and accompanied that 
Prince to England in 1688. Veitch afterward served with 
much distinction with the army in Flanders, rose to the 
rank of Colonel, and returned to England after the peace 
of Ryswick, in 1697. He next attempted to become a 
money-maker, and took a deep interest in the Darien 
scheme, one of the causes of much ill-feeling against 
the administration of King William in Scotland. He 
was one of the Councillors of the Darien Colony of Cale- 
donia. He proceeded to Darien in 1698, and when the 
colony was wiped out by the Spaniards he made his way 
to the North, and settled at Albany, where he engaged in 
trading with the Indians, and seems to have been fairly 
successful, for in 1700 he married Margaret, daughter of 
Robert Livingston. For several years his most notable 
employment was connected with schemes to forcibly 
wrest Canada from the hands of the French. In 1710, 
in the course of hostilities, he was appointed Governor 
of Nova Scotia, and held the ofifice for three years. Flis 
duties, however, were military rather than civil, and it 
seems a pity, for the sake of his personal comfort and 
fortunes, that he ever saw the province. In 1713 he was 
removed from his ofifice, was soon after reappointed to it, 
and again was removed without ceremony. Then he 
went to Boston and petitioned the crown for a place or a 
pension, but without meeting with any success ; nor were 



96 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his petitions to the Department of State any more fortu- 
nate. He went to England to push his claims in person, 
but failed to receive either recognition or recompense 
for his services and losses, and he died in London in 
1732, a sadly disappointed and broken man. He pos- 
sessed great ability, was active and conscientious in all 
the duties which fell to him, but he was of a stern and 
unyielding disposition, strong in his prejudices and ut- 
terly unfitted by a want of suavity in his manner for 
making himself popular either with the people or the 
Court. 

James Murray, fifth son of the fourth Lord Elibank, 
who from 1763 to 1767 was Governor General of Canada, 
occupies a prominent place in the military and political 
history of the Dominion. Beginning life as a soldier, 
he early saw service on the Continent of Europe. He 
took part in Wolfe's expedition to Quebec. He com- 
manded a brigade at the battle on the Plains of Abraham, 
and after Quebec had fallen and Wolfe had " died victori- 
ous " the command of the city and its forces devolved 
upon him. He at once put the place in order to meet any 
attack which might be made upon it. All through the 
Winter of 1759-60 he continued his preparations, and 
early in Spring found his charge invested by a French 
force of 12,000 men, under De Levis, one of the most 
brilliant of French Generals, while his own available 
force was barely 3,000. He offered De Levis battle, and 
in the " second engagement of Quebec," as it has been 
called, although he lost his guns and did not break the 
investing lines, he only suffered a loss of 300 men, while 
the enemy owned up to 1,800. This sally, brilliant as it 
was, severely crippled his resources, and he had a hard, 
ceaseless, and ever-perplexing struggle to keep the en- 
emy out of Quebec. In spite of the great odds against 
him, he maintained his position with brilliant success. 
But the struggle was a terrible one until the strain was 
relieved when the news came that aid had landed in Can- 
ada from Great Britain, and the French forces retreated 
from before the city. Had Quebec fallen into the hands 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 97 

of the French that Winter the British would have lost 
Canada, for the time at least. When all danger was past, 
Murray went to Montreal and there joined Lord Am- 
herst, and with the capitulation soon after of that city the 
French struggle for the retention of Canada ceased, and 
it became " one of the fairest gems in the British crown," 
as some one has truthfully described it. 

As Governor General, to which post he was almost 
immediately appointed, General Murray made a brilliant 
record. Mr. Henry J. Morgan, in his " Sketches of Cel- 
ebrated Canadians," says: " During his administration 
the form of government and the laws to be observed in 
the new colony were promulgated; the many evils that 
arose therefrom caused much dissatisfaction among the 
French people, and Governor Murray did all in his power 
to alleviate the discontented feeling, but with only partial 
success. Nevertheless, he won the good will and esteem 
of the whole French race in Canada, and lost that of a 
part of his countrymen because he would not conform to 
their prejudices against the poor natives and those of 
French origin." On leaving Canada, he served in the 
army with his accustomed brilliancy in other parts of the 
world, and refused on one occasion a bribe of one million 
pounds sterling to surrender Minorca. He died in 1794 
and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where rest the 
remains of so many brilliant Scotsmen whose abilities 
made them famous in all walks of life. 

Another military Governor of Canada who won a brill- 
iant record for his administrative qualities was General 
Peter Hunter, a brother of the celebrated founder of the 
Huntcrian Museum at Glasgow. He was descended 
from the same family as Governor Hunter of New York, 
and was born at Long Calderwood, Lanarkshire, in 1746. 
Choosing the military profession, he soon rose steadily 
and acquitted himself with credit in many hard fought 
carnpaigns. When appointed Governor of Upper Canada 
and Commander in Chief of the Forces, in 1799, he had 
attained the rank of Lieutenant General, and his appoint- 
ment is an evidence of the confidence felt in his military 



98 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

and administrative qualities by the British authorities, for 
the time was one of the most critical in the history of 
Canada, and the services of a diplomat were needed as 
much as those of a soldier. Governor Hunter's course 
in Canada fully justified the confidence of the appointing- 
power. He ruled wisely and well, instituted many im- 
provements in all branches of the Government, and was 
equally watchful over the contemporary prosperity and 
the opportunities for future development of the country. 
But, while constantly reforming the details of government 
and formulating laws and orders which were designed to 
benefit the country then and thereafter, and which seem 
to have been understood and appreciated by the people, 
Governor Hunter kept a close watch on the defenses and 
the military resources of his province, and it was while 
on a tour of inspection of the outposts of Canada that he 
died, at Quebec, in 1805. His career was in every way 
an honorable one to himself and his country, and the 
words on the memorial erected in the English Cathedral 
at Quebec by his brother, Dr. John Hunter, the famous 
anatomist, are as truthful as they are fitting: " His life 
was spent in the service of his King and country. Of 
the various stations, both civil and military, which he 
filled, he discharged the duties with spotless integrity, un- 
wearied zeal, and successful abilities." 

A volume mig-ht be written about the incidents in the 
career of Sir James H. Craig, the last of the family of 
Craig of Dalnair, near Edinburgh, who became Gov- 
ernor of Canada in 1807. He was born in 1750 at Gib- 
raltar, where his father held an appointment as Judge. 
Entering the army in 1763, he received his military train- 
ing in Gibraltar. He was present at the battle of Bunker 
Hill, and thereafter took part in most of the American 
campaigns. In 1794, with the rank of Major General, 
he went to the Cape of Good Hope, was instrumental in 
bringing that settlement under British rule, and was ap- 
pointed its Governor. Thereafter he served for several 
years with distinction in India, and, as Lieutenant Gen- 
eral, had command of the troops in the Mediterranean in 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. 99 

1805. Illness compelled him to retire from active service, 
but a short interval of rest seemed to recuperate him so 
much that he accepted the Governorship of Canada. His 
life there was not an enviable one. His constitution was 
broken and he suffered terribly from dropsy and a com- 
plication of diseases. The country was unsettled, the 
French and British did not get along harmoniously to- 
gether, and Craig made a few serious errors — errors 
which brought upon him much savage abuse. But he 
meant well, his honesty and patriotism were unimpeach- 
able, and he strove earnestly to benefit the country over 
which he ruled. Probably had he been in perfect health, 
had sedition been less ripe, had party spirit less blinded 
the people to his purpose, he might have succeeded bet- 
ter than he did. They called him an oppressor, and in 
connection with that charge, directly made, he issued the 
following pathetic statement: " For what should I op- 
press you? Is it from ambition? What can you give me? 
Is it for power? Alas, my good friends, with life ebb- 
ing not slowly to its period under the pressure of diseases 
acciuired in the service of my country, I look only to 
pass what it may please God to sufifer to remain of it in 
the comfort of retirement among my friends. I remain 
among you only in obedience to the commands of my 
King. What power can I wish for? Is it then for wealth 
I would oppress you? Inquire of those who know me 
whether I regard wealth. I never did when I could enjoy 
it ; it is now of no use to me. To the value of your coun- 
try laid at my feet I would prefer the consciousness of 
having, in a single instance, contributed to your happi- 
ness and prosperity." Such a man could not remain long- 
misunderstood, and though in some quarters the wTang- 
ling and criticism prevailed while he continued at the 
head of affairs, (and indeed long after,) the true senti- 
ments of the people forced themselves to the front when 
it was announced that he was about to relinquish his post 
and leave the country. Addresses of regret were sent to 
him from all quarters, and on the way to the vessel that 
was to carry him across the Atlantic a throng took the 



100 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

horses from his carriage and puHed it to the wharf. In the 
" History of Canada," by Robert Christie, is the follow- 
ing mention of Governor Craig, which, so far as it goes, 
seems a truthful tribute to some of the excellencies of his 
character: " Although hasty in temper, he was, like most 
men who are so, far from implacable, and as we have 
seen, easily reconciled to those who may have incurred 
his displeasure. Hospitable and princely in his style of 
living, he was also munificent in his donations to public 
institutions, and to charitable purposes a generous pa- 
tron; and, lastly, we shall mention, though not the least 
of his virtues, a friend to the poor and destitute, none of 
whom applying at his door ever went away unrelieved." 
In one respect. Governor Craig was far ahead of his 
contemporaries. That was in connection with the land 
cjuestion. He had no faith in the policy which handed 
over thousands of the most fruitful acres in Canada to ad- 
venturers who applied for them, to favorites Vk'ho believed 
themselves entitled to such gifts, or to land speculators 
who grasped what they could, and then made fortunes 
by selling their gifts of territory. In 1808, as we learn 
from one report, 179,786 acres were " granted " in Upper 
Canada; in iSoe;, 105,624; in 1810, 104,537; and in 181 1. 
115,586; while in Lower Canada the liberality of the 
Government was equally marked. Governor Craig pro- 
tested on every opportunity against this purposeless prod- 
igality, and gave the home authorities at least one very 
good object lesson illustrative of its result. A new bar- 
racks and a military hospital were needed in 181 1 for 
Quebec, but no site was available for their construction. 
The Government had by that time actually granted away 
every vacant piece of ground within the walls, and the 
Governor could only reconimend the purchase of a site. 
In doing so, however, he did not refrain from pointing 
out the folly of the whole principle of miscellaneous and 
indiscriminate awarding of the public lands. To actual 
settlers he did not begrudge an acre, but to no others 
would he have given a single foot. Governor Craig died 
in England, in 181 2, a year after he left Canada. 



COLONIAL GOVERNORS. IQl 

Sir James Kempt, a native of Edinburgh, was another 
noted soldier-Governor of Canada. He fought under Sir 
Ralph Abercrombie in Egypt, under Sir James H. Craig 
in the Mediterranean, under Wellington in the Peninsula 
and at Waterloo, and received many royal honors from 
his own and the allied sovereigns. In 1820 he succeeded 
Lord Dalhousie as Governor of Nova Scotia, and eight 
years later followed the same nobleman in the Governor- 
ship of Canada. His administration was an admirable 
one, and has been commended on all sides. He found 
the country on the verge of rebellion, and he quelled, 
gently and without force, all traces of discontent, so that 
when he retired he left it enjoying the blessings of as- 
sured peace and carried with him affectionate addresses 
from all sorts of public bodies. His death took place at 
London in 1855. 

A very different type of Canadian Governor may be 
studied in the comparatively quiet, but none the less use- 
ful careers of such men as Miles Macdonnel — a native of 
Inverness, who was born there in 1767, was Lord Sel- 
kirk's right-hand man in the Red River Valley Settle- 
.ment, became Governor of Assiniboia. and died at Port 
Fortune, on the Ottawa River, in 1828 — and of the bulk, 
in fact, of the Lieutenant Governors of the different 
Provinces and territories, before and after Confederation. 
Such names, too, as Lord Dalhousie, Lord Elgin, and 
Lord Lome, are indissolubly associated with Canadian 
history, and that sturdy Scotch soldier. Sir Colin Camp- 
bell, a native of Kilninver. tried his hand at the mysteries 
of civil administration as Governor of Nova Scotia be- 
fore becoming Governor of Ceylon. 

Taken as a whole, the Scotch Governors, royal or 
otherwise, on this side of the Atlantic, were fairly cred- 
itable to, and representative of, the Scot abroad. One or 
two of the royal appointees were more mercenary in their 
disposition than anything else — sort of executive Andrew 
Fairservices; but only one — Robertson — can be classed as 
a rascal. The faults which most of them committed were 
due, in a great measure, to the system under which they 



102 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

were appointed, or to the measures they were to bring 
about and the pohcy they were to enforce, all of which 
were completely at variance with the conditions under 
which the continent was progressing. This is illustrated 
in a very significant manner, even in the brief summary 
contained in this chapter. It will be observed that those 
Chief Magistrates who came to the United States — to the 
American Colonies rather — to stay, to make their homes 
in the new land, to become part and parcel of its citizen- 
ship, to throw in their entire future with it, made good 
executive officers, and have left records which are equally 
creditable to America and Scotland. Such men as Spot- 
tiswood, Johnston, Hamilton, and Colden, for example, 
still command the admiration of American historical 
■writers, and now that the bitterness of the Revolution 
has long been buried — let us hope forever — the fact that 
they were at one and the same time loyal to the people 
over whom they ruled and to the sovereign they served is 
freely admitted. Those who came after the Revolution 
were invariably noted for their honesty, their superiority 
to mere party spirit, and for their moderation, their wis- 
dom and their sturdy adherence to the principles of the 
Constitution and of law and order. Carpet-bag rulers 
have never been much in favor in America at any part of 
its history, not even in the South after the war, in the 
reconstruction period, and they are now unknown in the 
States, and, with the exception of the direct representa- 
tive of the sovereign, in the Dominion of Canada. 




CHAPTER IV. 

REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 

THERE was much in the Revolutionary movement 
which resulted in the formation and independence of the 
United States to attract Scotsmen to the cause. In Scot- 
land the people were by no means intense in their loyalty 
to the Orange King or the Hanoverian dynasty, and in 
the Highlands especially, the fact that " a stranger filled 
the Stuarts' throne " rankled in the hearts of every one. 
Even in the Lowlands, where the majority of the people 
were not in favor of the restoration of the '' Auld Stu- 
arts," movements looking to greater freedom under the 
prevailing Government were rife. Such movements were 
termed seditious and were repressed with all the severity 
and cruelty possible. Many of those concerned in these 
movements were glad to Hy to America, and we can 
easily imagine that their views anent human freedom and 
the right of all citizens to a voice in the affairs of State 
did not change after they had crossed the sea. The close 
of the seventeenth century and the whole of the eight- 
eenth was a period of unrest in Scotland as well as in 
Continental Europe, and would probably have found vent 
in the end in rebellion there, if not in revolution, as in 
France and America, had not Robert Burns crystallized 
the sentiments of the people into many of his matchless 
lyrics and inspired them with hope for the future in such 
reassuring prophetic-like words as those of " A man's a 
man for a' that." 

The Scotch soldiers who were settled on grants of land 

in the States, as a reward for their military services, were 

steadfast in their loyalty to Britain at the outbreak of 

hostilities. They still regarded themselves as soldiers of 

103 



104 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

King George, and considered, in view of their land hold- 
ings, that they were under obligation to continue to fight 
his battles when occasion demanded, without any consid- 
eration as to the merits of the question which was to be 
settled by a resort to arms. The well-known loyalty of 
these men and their military reputation drew upon them 
— and, to a certain extent, upon their countrymen — the 
ill-will of many, and caused some of the patriots to de- 
scribe the Scots as being generally anti-revolutionary in 
their ideas, although, had they chosen to look around a 
little, exactly the opposite truth might become apparent 
to them. It was on this erroneous idea that John Trum- 
bull of Connecticut wrote the doggerel lines of " McFin- 
gal." Describing that fictitious hero. Trumbull sa}'S: 

" His high descent our heralds trace, 
To Ossian's famed Fingalian race; 
For tho' their name some part may lack 
Old Fingal spelt it with a Mac; 
Which great McPherson, with submission 
We hope will add, the next edition. 
His fathers flourished in the Highlands 
Of Scotia's fog-benighted islands." 

In commenting on this passage, the late Benson J. 
Lossing, the latest and best editor of the poem, wrote: 

" The Scotch were noted for their loyalty, in this coun- 
try, and were generally found among the Tories, espe- 
cially in the Carolinas. This fact and the odium that 
rested upon the Jacobites in the Mother Country made 
the Americans, during the Revolution, look with suspi- 
cion upon all Scotsmen. Jefiferson manifested this feeling 
when he drew up the Declaration of Independence. In 
the original draft he alluded to ' Scotch and foreign mer- 
cenaries. This was omitted on motion of Dr. Wither- 
spoon, who was a Scotsman by birth. In most minds 
the word Jacobite was synonymous with Popery. Trum- 
bull showed his dislike of the Scotch by his choice of a 
hero in this poem. Frenau, another eminent poet of the 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 105 

Revolution, also evinced the same hatred. In one of his 
poems, in which he gives Burgoyne many hard rubs, he 
consigns the Tories, with Burgoyne at their head, to an 
ice-bound, fog-covered island ofT the north coast of Scot- 
land, thus: 

' There, Loyals, there, with loyal hearts retire ; 
There pitch your tents and kindle there your fire, 
There desert nature will her strings display. 
And fiercest hunger on your vitals prey.'" 

The bulk of the Scots who crossed the Atlantic, other 
than those in the military service, from 1700 till the out- 
break of the Revolution, and long after, were discontent- 
ed with the prevailing condition of things at home. Some 
wonder, knowing the intense loyalty of the Scots of the 
■present day, that settlers of that country should have 
taken such'an active part in the pre- Revolutionary move- 
ments in America, and been so ready to throw ofT then- 
allegiance; but no one who has studied the history of the 
people, particularly in the period named, will be in the 
least surprised. The exiles of Dunbar and of Cromwell's 
regime mav have had some sentimental regartl for the 
King they 'fought for, i)ut the news of his doings after 
the ^ blessed restoration " crushed it out. The prisoners 
of the Covenanting frays had little reverence for the royal 
authority and their descendants had none. After relig- 
ious liberty had been won, the movement for civil liberty 
conmienced in earnest and men were sent to prison for 
holding sentiments as well as for standing out in actual 
opposidon to " the powers that be." Even such senti- 
ments as " The nation is essentially the source of all sov- 
ereignty " and " Equal representation, just taxation, and 
liberty of conscience " were deemed treasonable enough 
to cause the arrest of their utterers, and such policy sent 
hundreds of good men and true across the sea. These 
wanderers found in America an opportunity for securing 
that religious liberty and that freedom and perfect equal- 
ity before the law they could not obtain at home. When 



lOG THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the Revolutionary troubles began they or their descend- 
ants entertained no loyalty for King George or liis dy- 
nasty; they knew that Scotland had suffered deeply, not 
only at the hands of the last two Kings of the old royal 
house, but at those of King William " of blessed mem- 
ory." Besides, from the time that John Knox had estab- 
lished in the Kirk the most perfect form of republican 
government of which the world has yet had knowledge, a 
growing sentiment, although in most instances an un- 
conscious sentiment, in favor of a republican form of 
government for State as well as for Kirk existed in the 
country. These are some of the reasons which made 
Scotsmen in America, or rather the majority of them, be 
as devoted to the principles at stake in the American 
Revolution as were any of the native patriots. 

Thus, in the highest circle of American patriotism, 
among the Signers of the Declaration of Intlepcndence 
we find the Scottish race well represented. Quite a num- 
ber were of Scotch descent, such as George Ross, who 
was the son of a Scottish minister, and Thomas McKean, 
afterward Governor of Pennsylvania. Two were natives 
of Scotland. One of these was James Wilson, a repre- 
sentative of Pennsylvania, who was born near St. An- 
drews, Fifeshire, in 1742. He was educated at the uni- 
versity in that ancient city and also at the Universities 
of Glasgow and Edinburgh. After settling in America 
he was employed for a time as a teacher in Philadelphia, 
and won a high reputation for his knowledge of the 
classics. Then he turned his attention to the study of the 
law and in due time was admitted to the bar and prac- 
ticed, among other places, in Annapolis, Md., and in 
Reading, Pa., afterward making his home again in Phila- 
delphia. He was a prominent advocate of the rights of 
the Colonies, and in the Congress of 1775, of which he 
was a member, he strongly advocated independence as 
the only possible means of escape from the evils which 
had brought the various Commonwealths into such a 
state of turmoil and dissatisfaction. In 1779 he was ap- 
pointed Advocate General for the French Government in 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 107 

the United States, but resigned the office in 1781. He 
continued, however, to give professional advice to the 
French Government until 1783, when he received from 
Paris a gift of 10,000 livres in recognition of his services. 
He served in Congress in 1783 and 1786, and in 1789 be- 
came, by appointment of George Washington, one of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. A 
capable lawyer, an upright and honorable citizen, wise in 
his counsels, and moderate, yet determined, in all his pub- 
lic utterances, we can easily understand that Judge Wil- 
son held a high position in the Revolutionary councils, 
and how, after the turmoil of the struggle was over, he 
should be elevated to a seat on the highest tribunal of 
the country and so assist in placing the legal system of 
the new nation on a sure foundation. He died, while on a 
circuit journey, at Edenton, N. C, in 1798. 

One of the most notable figures among the group of 
Signers, and said l^y some to have indeed been the real 
author of the Declaration, was the Rev. Dr. John With- 
erspoon. President of Princeton College. This great and 
good man was born at Yester, Haddingtonshire, in 1722. 
He could trace his descent from John Knox in the 
female line and on the other side from John Knox's 
heroic son-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Welsh. His father was 
the minister of the parish of Yester, and Witherspoon 
was educated for the pulpit in the University of Edin- 
burgh. His first charge was the parish of Beith, Ayr- 
shire, and there the excellence of his pulpit discourses, 
the high standard of his published writings and his nat- 
ural qualities as a leader soon won for him a high rank 
among the Scottish clergy. In the General Assembly 
he became a power on the side of the Evangelical party — - 
the party that was trying to rouse the Church from the 
lethargy into which it had been thrown by the rhetoric, 
the phrases, the artificiality of the " Moderates." Prob- 
ably his work on " Ecclesiastical Characteristics," pub- 
lished in 1753, and directed against the Moderate party 
in the Scottish Church, was tlie most pithy and pungent 
bit of e-enuine sarcasm which Scottish theolos'ical writins: 



108 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

had up to that time produced, and it proved the hterary 
sensation of the hour. In 1757 he accepted a call from 
Paisley, and, although he had afterward calls from Dub- 
lin, Dundee, Rotterdam and other places, he remained in 
" Seestu " until 1768, when he accepted a demand for his 
services as presiding officer over Princeton College, a 
demand which when made on a previous occasion he had 
refused. 

Dr. Witherspoon was a noted man before crossing to 
America; he had attained by his preaching and his lit- 
erary capacity the highest rank among his contempo- 
raries. In America he soon became equally popular and 
influential. Princeton College quickly became, under 
his direction, the foremost in the country, and it would 
have soon been regarded as among the noted seats of 
learning in the world had not the troubles of the Revolu- 
tion paralyzed its usefulness, as they did that of all the 
higher educational institutions in the country. The college 
was finally compelled to close its doors, for around 
Princeton the tide of war for a time beat rudely. While 
the duties of his assigned office thus fell away from him, 
however, Dr. Witherspoon assumed others, which have 
given him a commanding place in the history of the Rev- 
olution. " He assisted," writes Lossing, " in framing a re- 
publican Constitution for New Jersey, and in June (1776) 
he was elected to a seat in the Continental Congress, 
where he hotly advocated independence and signed his 
name on the Declaration thereof. He was a faithful 
member of Congress until 1782 and took a conspicuous 
part in military and financial matters." In 1783 the time 
seemed ripe for renewing the activity of Princeton, and 
Dr. Witherspoon turned his attention from secular af- 
fairs to engage solely in that work, and he combined 
teaching and preaching until his death, in 1794- The 
saddest feature of his closing years was a visit he paid to 
his native land, primarily in search of financial assistance 
to carry on the work of his college. He was deeply 
pained to find his efforts in this direction .a failure, but the 
saddest blow came from the personal treatment he re- 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 109 

ceived, mainly at the hands of his brother clergy. He 
was denounced as a traitor on every side and shunned 
by many who knew him well and were his friends and 
allies before he threw in his lot with the new republic. 
That sort of treatment was, however, to be expected, and 
it seems that even Witherspoon dreaded it when he left 
America on his journey to his native land. The clergy 
of Scotland at that time (1785) were by no means the 
believers in popular liberty their predecessors were, and 
it needed the discipline of the Disruption to bring them, 
as a class, once more to appreciate the power and in- 
fluence of the people when rightly enlisted and directed. 

Dr. Witherspoon was by no means the only Scottish 
clergyman who was active on the side of the Revolution. 
There were in reality very many such, and, indeed, it 
might be said that the Presbyterians and the great ma- 
jority of those then classed as " nonconformists " were 
outspoken in favor of independence. A noted example 
was that of the Rev. John Roxburgh, who was born at 
Berwick in 1714 and settled in America in 1740. He 
studied for the ministry at Princeton, graduating from 
there in 1761, and soon after was ordained as pastor of a 
church in Warren County, New Jersey. In 1769 he as- 
sumed a pastorate at the Forks of Delaware and held 
that charge at the time of his death. He was early dis- 
tinguished by his emphatic views in favor of separation, 
and soon after the conflict broke out he joined in the 
formation of a military company from his own vicinity. 
He became chaplain of a battalion of militia and served 
during most of the New Jersey campaign. At the battle 
of Trenton, in 1777, he was taken prisoner by a gang of 
Hessians and brutally murdered. 

As ardent an American patriot, although less militant 
in his disposition, was the Rev. Henry Patillo, who was 
taken to America from Scotland, where he was born, in 
1736, when only nine years of age. Beginning life as a 
clerk in a store, he studied for the ministry, was ordained 
in 1758, and settled in North Carolina. His ministerial 
labors were confined thereafter to that State, and among 



110 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the negroes, especially, his work was very effective. He 
ranked as an excellent classical scholar, and his published 
volume of sermons prove him to have been a preacher 
of more than ordinary power. From the first, as might 
have been expected, he was in favor of the complete in- 
dependence of the Colonies, and spoke on that once dan- 
gerous topic on every possible occasion. He was a 
member of the Provincial Council in 1775 and had the 
satisfaction of seeing the country fairly started in its na- 
tional career long before he died, in 1801. 

Another Scottish clergyman deserves to be recalled 
here, because he was outspoken in his advocacy of the 
principles at stake in the Revolution while still residing 
in Scotland and preaching there. This was the Rev. 
Charles Nisbet, who was born at Long Yester, Had- 
dingtonshire, where his father was a schoolmaster, in 
1728. He was educated at Edinburgh University and 
became pastor of a church at Montrose. It was while 
there that his utterances in favor of the American Revo- 
lution were delivered, and his justification of Washington 
and his associates was regarded with disfavor by the 
leading people of the district and caused him to be con- 
sidered as, politically, a suspicious character. In 1783, 
when John Dickinson of Delaware founded at Carlisle, 
Pa., as a Presbyterian college, the institution which still 
bears his name, an offer of the Presidency was tendered 
to Nisbet, and he gladly accepted. He was even anxious 
to leave Scotland and take up his abode in a country 
where his sentiments concerning human liberty would 
be regarded as orthodox, or where at least he would 
have opportunity of expressing and ventilating those sen- 
timents without giving offense. In the Statistical Ac- 
count of Haddington, written in 1835, by the Rev. John 
Thomson, we read the following summary of Nisbet's 
American experiences: "Although a man of distin- 
guished attainments, he seems to have enjoyed little 
comfort and less worldly prosperity in ' the land of lib- 
erty.' Although the names ' college ' and ' President ' 
sounded well, vet he found that his situation was neither 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. HJ 

more profitable nor more respectable than that which his 
worthy father held before him. On one occasion he 
wrote to his friends that ' America was certainly a land 
of promise, for it was all promise and no performance.' " 
This dolesome report was probably sent to Scotland soon 
after Nisbet's settlement at Carlisle, for he had at the be- 
ginning some disagreement with the trustees of the col- 
lege, and he resig'ned his position within a few months 
after assuming it. The matter was, however, arranged 
to his satisfaction, for he was re-elected to the Presidency 
and continued his connection with the institution until his 
death, in 1804. Besides acting as President, Nisbet lec- 
tured on philosophy, systematic theology, logic, and 
belles-lettres. His collected writings were published in 
1806, and show him to have been a man of wide reading 
and great ability, and a just estimate of his career, and of 
its value in the cause of American education, may be 
found in the excellent memoir which was published in 
1840, by Dr. Samuel Nullis. Long after his death Presi- 
dent Nisbet's library, a large and extensive collection, in- 
cluding many very rare works, was presented by his 
grandsons to the library of Princeton College, so that to 
the present day some of the usefvdncss of his lifetime 
may be said to continue in active operation. 

Seeing that the clergy were so active in the Revolution, 
it is an easy matter to turn from them to those who in the 
tented field bore the brunt of the struggle and willingly 
encountered the horrors of war to secure the independ- 
ence of the land in which they were born or which they 
had adopted as their own. 

One of the most renowned of these heroes was Hugh 
fiercer, who was born at Aberdeen in 1721. He grad- 
uated in medicine at Aberdeen University and served as a 
surgeon or assistant surgeon in the army of Bonnie 
Prince Charlie, closing his Scottish military career on the 
field of Culloden. As soon after that as possible he 
crossed the Atlantic, and in 1747 we find him practicing 
as a physician near what is now the pleasant town of 
Mercersburg, in Pennsylvania. He was, however, fonder 



1X2 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

of military matters than of his own profession, and he 
took an active part in the campaign of General Braddock, 
that ended so disastrously for that warrior's reputation. 
In the defeat on the Monongahela, Mercer was severely 
wounded, and either wandered from the main force of the 
retreating troops or was left behind by them intentionally 
as being so near death that there was no use of being 
cumbered with him. The business of human butchery 
does not inspire men with kindly feelings toward each 
other any more than the butchery of sheep invests the 
breast of the butcher with pity for his bleating victims. 
Mercer found himself alone in the unknown forest, but 
with the energy so characteristic of his countrymen in 
many like cases, he determined to attempt, at least, to 
gain the nearest settlement. Fort Cumberland, about 
a hundred miles distant. The journey occupied several 
weeks, and each day had its story of remarkable adven- 
ture and constant peril. On one occasion he escaped 
from the clutches of a band of Indians by climbing into 
the trunk of a hollow tree and remaining there till they 
disappeared. For his bravery and suffering in this cam- 
paign he received a medal from the city of Philadelphia. 
Afterward he was placed in command, for a time, of Fort 
Duqucsne. 

Mercer removed, when that campaign was over, to 
Fredericksburg, Va., to resume the practice of his pro- 
fession. By that time, however, the Revolutionary tide 
had fairly set in, and Mercer's abilities as a soldier were 
too well known to Washington and the other leaders in 
Virginia to allow him to remain in a peaceful walk of 
life when sterner work had to be done. Besides, Mer- 
cer's own entire sympathies were with the movement 
and he was pronounced in his views for independence as 
soon as the first glimmer of its light was seen. One 
who had already fought against King George in Scot- 
land was not very likely to be enthusiastic in his support 
in America, even although circumstances led him to fight 
under a General (Braddock) who was one of the com- 
manders in the victorious army at Culloden. He agitated 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 113 

with all his might for the maintenance of the rights of the 
Colonies, and in 1775 organized the afterward famous 
Minute Men of Virginia. He also put the militia of the 
State in readiness for campaigning. In 1776 Congress 
commissioned him a Brigadier General, on the advice of 
Washington, and he at once took a high place in the 
forces of the young republic. His military career was cut 
short, however, in the campaign in New Jersey. After 
leading the forces in a night march on Princeton, he was 
mortally wounded in the battle at that place on January 
3, 1777, and expired a few days later. The loss of this 
brave man was deeply regretted by General Washington 
and the nation, and Congress resolved not only to erect a 
monument to his memory at Fredericksburg, but to edu- 
cate his infant son. The body of the hero was interred in 
Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, and the funeral is 
said to have been attended by 30,000 persons. Among 
the associations represented in the throng was the Phil- 
adelphia St. Andrew's Society, of which he had been a 
member, and which still possesses, as its most precious 
relic, his sword. The American writers of the Revolu- 
tion vie with each other in their tributes to his honesty 
of purpose, his valor, and his abilities as a leader, and 
the words of General Wilkinson may be regarded as stat- 
ing the general sentiment when he wrote: " In Mercer we 
lost, at Princeton, a chief who for education, talents, dis- 
position, integrity and patriotism was second to no man 
but the Commander-in-Chief, Washington, and was 
cjualified to fill the highest trusts in the country." 

A much more varied, and, on the whole, a much sad- 
der American career was tliat of Arthur St. Clair. This 
brave and at one time greatly maligned man was born 
at Thurso in 1734, and learned the " sodgerin' trade " in 
the British Army. He entered the British service as an 
ensign and served under Amherst at Louisbourg and un- 
der Wolfe at Quebec. In 1762 he resigned his commis- 
sion, but continued his residence in America. On the 
outbreak of the Revolutionary War he threw in his lot 
with the Colonists, and was commissioned Colonel. His 



114 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

services and bravery were so conspicuous that in 1777 
he was raised to the rank of Major General, and placed 
in command of the important post of Ticonderoga. That 
post was regarded by many of the most experienced offi- 
cers as untenable, and even St. Clair was com])elled to 
abandon it to General Burgoyne on July 5. ^yyy. Al- 
though some fault might be found with the details of St. 
Clair's defense, there was no way of evading the inevit- 
able result, for at best the most he could have done was 
to delay the further movements of the enemy. The sur- 
render of tlic place, however, was learned with much 
disfavor by the American troops, and to appease their 
dissatisfaction St. Clair was dej^rived of his active ])0- 
sition in the forces and tried by court-martial. That tri- 
bunal comi)letely exonerated him, and he remained with 
the army as a volunteer, gradually winning back by his 
services in that capacity his former popularity and in- 
fluential position. He served in Congress from 1785 to 
1787, and presided over its deliberations in the latter 
year. T'rom 1788 to 1802 he was Governor of the North- 
west. His last military service was in command of an ex- 
pedition against the Miami Indians, in 1791, when he 
suffered a humiliating defeat and lost over 700 men. 
This disaster again turned the tide of popularity against 
him, and tlie loud censiu'es then pronounced were more 
distinguished by their bitterness than by their logic. A 
defeated soldier, defeated under any circumstances, is 
never an object of much respect or regard, and although 
St. Clair was honorably acquitted of all blame by a com- 
mittee of Congress, he never again recovered his former 
rei)Utation. When, in 1802, Ohio was admitted into the 
sisterhood of States, St. Clair relinc|uished, or had to re- 
lin([uish, his Governorship, and retired into obscurity and 
private life. He was old, poor, and dispirited, and even 
suffered, it is said, the terrors of poverty — the most re- 
lentless foe of old age. At length, Congress voted him a 
pension of sixty dollars a month, and with that his few 
wants were abundantly supplied and the evening gloom 
was not tortured by the si)ectre of actual want. The vet- 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 115 

eraii died in 1818 at Greensburg, and over his grave a 
handsome monument was erected several years later by 
his brethren of tlie Masonic fraternity. 

A type of military commander evolved out of the war- 
like exigencies of the time without previous military 
training, many more recent examples of which were fur- 
nished by the civil war, was Alexander McDougall, who 
was born in Argyllshire, in the year 1731, and settled in 
America with his father in 1755. He was a seaman at 
times, but appears to have learned, somehow, the print- 
ing trade. When the dissatisfaction with the home gov- 
ernment had nearly reached its height, McDougall be- 
came noted in New York as one of the leading members 
of the Sons of Liberty, an organization called into ex- 
istence by the opposition to the Stamp Act, in 1765. The 
feeling of loyalty which the rescinding of that act aroused 
did not, for various reasons, last very long. One would 
almost think, by reading the history of the time, that 
the Home Government really wanted to drive the Col- 
onists into open rebellion, and in 1769 McDougall was 
arrested and thrown into prison as being the author, or 
chief compiler, of an address to the people, which was 
decreed by the authorities to be " an infamous and 
seditious libel." His career as a popular hero dated from 
the moment of his incarceration. In Booth's " History 
of the City of New York" we read: "A daily ovation 
was rendered him by his friends, who regarded him as a 
martyr to the cause of liberty. The ladies flocked in 
crowds to the cell of the imprisoned patriot, and so nu- 
merous were his visitors that, in order to gain leisure for 
the defense of his cause, he was obliged to publish a card 
fixing his hours for public receptions. He remained in 
jail to the April term of the court, when the Grand Jury 
found a bill against him, to which he pleaded not guilty. 
A few days afterward he was released on bail." When 
war was declared, McDougall went to " the front " as 
Colonel of the regiment from New York City. His mili- 
tary merit was such that he was speedily raised to the 
rank of Major General, and he was particularly conspicu- 



116 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ous in the battles of White Plains and Germantown. Be- 
tween 1778 and 1780 he had command of the forts along 
the Hudson River, one of the most important posts in 
the American Army, and fulfilled his trust to the entire 
satisfaction of his colleagues. In 1781 he was elected to 
Congress, was for a time Minister of Marine, and was 

? sent to the United States Senate in 1783. He died some 
three years later, while still filling that position, to the 
great regret of General Washington and all who were 
associated with him in military or political life. 

Another instance of evolution from civil life to high 

military command is afforded by the career of Lachlan 

/ Mcintosh, who from being a merchant's clerk and a land 

^ surveyor developed into a Brigadier General. His father. 
John Mohr Mcintosh, was head of a small sept of the 
Macintosh clan, and in 1736 settled in Georgia, with 100 
of his followers, on a place to which they gave the name 
of Inverness, but which is now known as Darien. Lach- 
lan was born at Badenoch, Inverness-shire, in 1727, ac- 
companied his father to Georgia, and grew up an enthu- 
siastic American patriot. When the war broke out he 
volunteered his services, and was commissioned Colonel, 
becoming a General in 1776. As a result of a duel, in 
which he mortally wounded Button Gwinnett, one of the 
Signers of the Declaration of Independence, considerable 
ill-feeling was aroused against him in Georgia, although 
he was not the challenger in the duel, and was acquitted 
after standing his trial on a charge of murder. The 
trouble, however, was so serious that Mcintosh was 
given for a time a command in the West, with headquar- 
ters at Pittsburgh. In 1779 he was second in command 
at the siege of Savannah, and took part in the defense 
of Charleston. When that town was surrendered, in 
1780, Mcintosh was made a prisoner, and with that ter- 
minated his military career. He retired to Virginia until 
the close of the war, and then settled in Savannah. His 
closing years were marked by poverty, and he was un- 
doubtedly glad when his period of waiting came to an 
end, and he entered into rest, in 1806, 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 117 

In many ways one of the most prominent figures in 
the Revokitionary strviggle was the hero who was known 
to his contemporaries as the Earl of Stirhng. He was 
generaUy addressed by his title ; but he was a devoted ad- 
herent of the republic, and the son of a man who was in 
every respect as ardent an American patriot as he became. 
With the justice of his claim to be Earl of Stirling, we 
have nothing here to do. He preferred the claim in due 
form to the British House of Lords in 1759 and backed 
it up with various proofs, notably a genealogical tree 
showing his descent from John, the uncle of the first 
Earl. The House of Lords took nearly three years to 
digest the material placed before it, and then decreed 
against the validity of the claim. He refused to acqui- 
esce in this decision, and continued to assume the title 
until the end of his career. The American family com- 
menced with James Alexander, who, for his share in the 
rebellion of 1715, had to leave Scotland. He settled in 
New York and was appointed its Surveyor General, and 
Governor Burnet made him a member of his council. 
He was held in high esteem, and, along with Benjamin 
Franklin and others, was one of the founders of the 
Philosophical Society of America. By his marriage with 
the Scotch widow of an American trader, he had four 
daughters (one of whom married General John Reid, 
founder of the Chair of Music in Edinburgh University 
and composer of the famous song " In the Garb of Old 
Gaul ") and one son, the claimant of the Stirling peer- 
age and its acknowledged holder in America. He died 
in 1756. 

]\Iajor William Alexander, or the Earl of Stirling, 
as he preferred to be called, and as, for that reason if for 
no other, we will call him, was born in New York in 
1726. After a short experience in conunercial affairs, he 
became private secretary and aide-de-camp to General 
Shirley, then commanding the Colonial forces, and when 
that officer was recalled, Lord Stirling accompanied him 
to England. His time there was mainly devoted to the 
prosecution of his peerage claims, with the unfavorable 



118 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

result already mentioned. On his return to America, he 
was appointed Surveyor General of New York and a 
member of the Council in New Jersey. He threw himself 
with the utmost ardor into the movement for indepen- 
dence, although thereby he knew that he dissipated any 
chance he might have for a legal acknowledgment of 
his claims to the peerage, and started in the war as 
Colonel of a regiment. His promotion was rapid and his 
military career brilliant. In January, 1776, he captured 
a British transport in the Bay of New York with a small 
force, and in March of that year he was placed in com- 
mand of New York and dexterously fortified the city 
and harbor. He was taken prisoner near Brooklyn, on 
Long Island, but exchanged, and took part in the bat- 
tles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. In 
1781, with the rank of Major General, he was placed 
in command of the Northern Army, with headquarters 
at Albany, and he died in that city in 1783. " It is a 
singular fact," says Lossing, " that during the War of 
Independence, Lord Stirling had command at different 
times of every brigade in the American Army, except 
those of South Carolina and Georgia." By his marriage 
with Sarah, eldest daughter of Philip Livingston, Lord 
Stirling had two daughters, but no son, and so the claims 
of his branch of the Alexander family tO' the peerage 
died with him. In the brilliant galaxy of Revolutionary 
heroes, he holds an honored place, but his memory is 
perhaps now held in greener remembrance for the serv- 
ices he performed for Columbia College, of which he 
was for a long time one of the Governors. 

These soldiers we have just named are all recognized 
as leaders in the Revolutionary cause, and their deeds 
and lives have become part and parcel of American his- 
tory. There were hundreds of others less prominent, 
however, but by no means less brave, less loyal to the 
cause, less self-sacrificing, or, in a sense, less needful. 
That struggle was one in which all who took part in it 
had to do their utmost and to fulfill the duties allotted 
to them with scrupulous fidelity, and when every man's 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 119 

work was really necessary to success. Among these 
now less known heroes mention may be made of Colonel 
John Mm^ray, one of the bravest of men, who represent- 
ed Pennsylvania in the struggle. He was born in Perth- 
shire in 1 73 1 and settled near the town of Dauphin, 
Pa., with his father, in 1766. He commenced his active 
career as a military patriot in March, 1776, when he was 
appointed to the command of a company in a regiment 
of rifles. A year later he had won the rank of Major, 
and in 1778 was Colonel of the Second Pennsylvania 
Regiment. He continued in active service until the 
termination of hostilities, in 1783, having beeii present 
at the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, 
Princeton, Germantown, and Brandywine, besides skirm- 
ishes innumerable. When the struggle was over he re- 
tired to Dauphin County, was appointed a Justice of the 
Peace in 1791 and so continued in the duties of active 
citizenship until his death, in 1798. A brother of this 
liero, James Murray, who came from Scotland with the 
rest of the family, served through the war, mostly as 
Captain in the Pennsylvania troops. 

Another Scottish-American who' figured very con- 
spicuously in Pennsylvania's quota of patriots was Will- 
iam Leiper, who was one of the founders of the famous 
Philadelphia City Troop, and served with it during the 
greater part of the war. He was born at Strathaven in 
174=;, settled in Maryland in 1763, but removed to Phil- 
adelphia two years later, and thereafter made it his home. 
He engaged in the business of storing and exporting to- 
bacco and the manufacture of tobacco and snuff, and 
amassed a large fortune. For years he was looked upon 
as one of the most public-spirited of the citizens of Phil- 
adelphia, and every scheme for the advancement of the 
city or for the promotion of its interests found in him a 
liberal and thoughtful patron. The first tramway in 
America was laid under Leipcr's direction, in 1809, and 
as President of the Philadelphia Common Council he 
proved a model of^cial by the interest he took in every 
matter pertaining to the welfare of the city. He served 
also as a Presidential Elector, and was one of the first, if 



120 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

not tlie first, to nominate Andrew Jackson, his beau 
ideal among America's public men, for the Presidency. 
Mr. Leiper's later years were spent in dignified retire- 
ment, and as he survived till 1825, he had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing his adopted country prosperous and pro- 
gressive after almost half a century of independence. 

William Fleming, who was born in Lanarkshire in 
1740, may serve as a type of the Southern soldier. He 
emigrated when twenty years of age and settled on a 
large tract of land at Botecourt, Augusta County, \'a. 
His property steadily increased in value until, 'in the 
prune of life, Fleming could regard himself as a fairly 
rich man. In the district in which he had settled he was 
very popular. He had received a good education, was 
well read, and was a man of fine appearance, and these 
qualities,_ joined with his fondness for atheltic sports, to- 
gether with a commonly credited report that he was real- 
ly of aristocratic parentage, his generous hospitalitv, and 
his interest in public aft'airs, won him hosts of friends. 
When the outbreak with the mother country was immi- 
nent, Fleming raised a regiment which he afterward com- 
manded at the battle of Point Pleasant. His military 
career ended wdth that engagement, however, for in it he 
received a wound, from the effects of wdiich he never 
fully recovered. Colonel Fleming is said by some au- 
thorities to have served for a short time as Governor of 
Virginia during the troubles. 

Of all the soldiers in the Revolution, none had, on the 
whole, a more extraordinary career than James Swan, 
who was born in Fifeshire in 1754 and settled in Boston 
when a young man. He was for a time a mercantile 
clerk, but soon became more noted for his advocacy of 
the movement for independence than for his business 
abilities, although, as long subsequent events showed, his 
business qualities were of a high order. He formed 'one 
of the celebrated " Boston Tea Party " and acted as an 
aide de camp to Gen. Warren at Bunker Hill. In that 
famous skirmish he was severely w^ounded. Afterward 
as a Captain in Crafts's regiment of artillery Swan saw- 
much active service, and he was in the expedition that 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 121 

compelled the British forces to leave Boston Harbor. As 
Secretary to the Massachusetts Board of War, as mem- 
l)er of the State Legislature, and as Adjutant General of 
the State, he rendered a series of magnificent services to 
the Commonwealth. But while thus winning honors as 
a patriot his private fortunes were not flourishing, and, 
despairing of meeting with much financial success in the 
then unsettled state of the country. Swan retired from 
public life and went to France. There in a few years he 
accumulated a fortune, and when he returned to the 
United States, in 1795, he Avas noted equally for his 
wealth, his charity, and his munificence. In 1798 he re- 
turned to Europe and engaged in large commercial 
ventures, all of which were wonderfully successful. In 
1 81 5 his career was cut short by his being arrested and 
lodged in prison on charges preferred by a German with 
whom he had had dealings. He remained in durance until 
1830, living meantime in a style of the greatest luxury 
and enjoying the additional prodigality of a score of law- 
suits. A year later he died in Paris. Swan was a man of 
brilliant genius, of that there is no doubt, and he pos- 
sessed many of the qualities of a statesman, as well as 
those of a soldier and a merchant. His pamphlets on the 
fisheries of Massachusetts show that he was alive to the 
importance of an industry then wholly unappreciated, 
while his work against the slave trade, published at Bos- 
ton in 1773, demonstrated his belief that all men, black 
and white, are born free and equal, long before that senti- 
ment became recognized, even as a figure of speech, in 
the Declaration of Independence. 

It is singular to find that several Scots took part in the 
battle of Bunker Hill, and, having just mentioned one 
who fought on the American side, it may not be out of 
place to recall another Scot, and also another native of 
Fifeshire, who was in the opposing ranks — in the ranks 
of King George. This was John Pitcairn, son of the Rev. 
David Pitcairn, minister of Dysart, and a representative 
of the old Fifeshire house of Pitcairn of Pitcairn. John 
Pitcairn, when twenty-five years of age, became a Cap- 
tain in the Roval Marines, and was commissioned a Ma- 



122 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

jor in 1771. He was for a considerable time stationed at 
IJoston, and had the reputation of being the only British 
ofificer who showed any consideration for the people in 
their frequent petty troubles with the soldiery. On April 
19, 1775. he was in command of the British squad in the 
famous skirmish at Lexington, generally regarded as the 
opening contest in the Revolutionary War. Bancroft 
says: " Pitcairn rode in front, and, when within five or 
six rods of the Minute Men, cried out: * Disperse, ye vil- 
lains! Ye rebels, disperse! Lay down your arms! Why 
don't you lay down your arms and disperse? ' The main 
part of the countrymen stood motionless in the ranks, 
witnesses against aggression; too few to resist, too brave 
to fly. At this Pitcairn discharged a pistol and with a 
loud voice cried * Fire ! ' The order was followed first 
by a few guns which did no execution, and then by a 
close and deadly discharge of musketry." This very cir- 
cumstantial story has, however, been denied in most of 
its details by other historians, and Pitcairn himself always 
averred that it was the Minute Men who fired the first 
shot. Seven of the latter were killed, among them being 
Robert Munroe, a Scotsman, who as an ensign in one of 
the Highland regiments had helped to win Louisbourg 
for his country from the French in 1758. In the retreat 
from Concord on the afternoon of the Lexington affray 
Pitcairn had to abandon his horse and pistols, and very 
nearly lost his life. At Bunker Hill he was conspicuous 
for his bravery. In the last assault made on the hill he 
was the first to climb to the redoubt, which he did, crying : 
" Now for the glory of the marines! " but fell mortally 
wounded by a shot fired by a negro — the last shot, it is 
said, fired in the fight. Major Pitcairn was carried to the 
City of Boston, and died within a few hours. He had 
married early in life Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Dal- 
rymple of Annefield, Dumfries-shire, and left her a widow 
with eleven children. She secured a pension of £200 a 
year from the British Government, and her eldest son, 
David, became one of the most noted physicians in Lon- 
don, dying in that city in 1809, the recognized head of 
his profession. 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 12? 

We have probably said enough about the miUtary he- 
roes of the Revohition — adduced sufficient instances to 
prove the importance of the Scotch element in it. We 
may, therefore, turn to another field — that of statesman- 
ship- — which was as essential to the success of the move- 
ment as the military prowess of the warriors. Had the 
advice of the Scotch settlers, or of the majority of the 
Scotch representatives of the Home Government, been 
taken, there would never have been any revolution at 
all — at least at the time and under the circumstances it 
did. Alexander Kennedy, for example, who was Col- 
lector of Customs at the Port of New York, and in 1750 
a member of the Provincial Council, was continually, in 
his letters to headquarters, in his reports, and in his pub- 
lished writing-s, urging the importance of the American 
Colonies to the mother country and advocating measures 
and giving suggestions which, if carried out, would un- 
doubtedly have strengthened their loyalty and added to 
their wealth and prosperity. But no attention was paid 
to such warning voices. Kennedy, who became Receiver 
General of the Province of New York — proof sufficient 
that he was a man possessing some influence with the 
home powers— was descended from the third Earl of Cas- 
silis. He married a Miss Massam of New York, and 
when he died, in 1763, left a son, Archibald. This son be- 
came a Captain in the Royal Navy, and in 1792, on the 
death of the tenth Earl of Cassilis without issue, suc- 
ceeded to tho Earldom. He had married Anne, sister of 
John Watts, at one time President of the St. Andrew's 
Society of New York, and their descendants still hold the 
old title and the newer one of Marquis of Ailsa. Anne 
Watts lies buried in the Chapel of Holyrood under a 
plain flat stone. One of the younger sons of this mar- 
riage married the sister of Alexander Macomb, who, in 
1828, became Commander in Chief of the United States 
Army. 

The most brilliant statesman of the Revolution was 
Alexander Hamilton, who was born in the island of 
Nevis, British West Indies, his father being a native of 
Scotland and his mother a Frenchwoman. He learned 



124 I^HE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

business routine in a mercantile house at St. Croix, and 
when sixteen years of age came to this country with his 
widowed mother. He then entered King's College and 
studied law. His public life may be said to have begun 
when, at the age of seventeen years, he commenced mak- 
ing speeches in favor of freedom, and in 1775 he helped 
the Sons of Liberty to carry off the cannon from Fort 
George, (now the Battery,) New York. To trace this 
man's career would be to write the history of the country 
during its continuance. He served in the war, in Con- 
gress, and was Secretary of the Treasury in Washing- 
ton's first Cabinet. No one enjoyed to a greater extent 
the confidence of the " Father of his Country," and when, 
in 1798, Washington assumed command of the provis- 
ional army it was with the distinct understanding that 
Hamilton should be his chief associate. His later years 
were spent in New York in the prosecution of his private 
law business, but he took the keenest interest in politics 
and national affairs. It was this interest and a knowledge 
of the influence he deservedly exerted that led to a dis- 
pute with the notorious Aaron Burr and to the latter 
sending him a challenge to a duel. According to the 
fashion of the time, Hamilton had to accept, and the par- 
ties met near Weehawken on July 11, 1804, almost on 
the spot where Hamilton's son had been killed in a simi- 
lar encovmter a few years before. Hamilton fired in the 
air. Burr shot straight at his opponent, who fell, mor- 
tally wounded, and died the next day. There was a terri- 
ble outburst of public indignation when the news of. the 
duel spread abroad, and Burr was denovmced as a mur- 
derer, and for the remainder of his long life was not only 
ostracised by society, but was everywhere shunned, and 
he sank into obscurity. Hamilton was interred with all 
possible honors in Trinity Churchyard. He was through- 
out his life proud of his Scotch descent; joined the New 
York St. Andrew's Society in 1784, and that organiza- 
tion marked the spot where he fell by a neat memorial 
stone. That monument has long ago disappeared — re- 
moved by relic hunters for the most part — and although 
the erection of another stone on the site has often been 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 125 

discussed by New York Scotsmen in recent years noth- 
ing practical has resuUed. It is even doubtful if the ex- 
act site could now be determined, so great have been the 
changes in the vicinity. 

The family of Watts was a conspicuous one in the Rev- 
olution, and, like many others, was divided by that out- 
break into loyalists and Americans. According to Gen. 
De Peyster, the present able and cultured representative 
of the family, its American progenitor was John Watt of 
Rosehill, near Edinburgh, who settled in America toward 
the close of the seventeenth century. His son, John, be- 
came a noted figure in local afifairs, and, had the Revolu- 
tion been suppressed, would have been Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of the Colony of New York. He represented the 
city in the Assembly for many years and was a member 
of Council. As one of the wealthiest landed proprietors 
in the colony, he was munificent in his private charity 
and in his public benefactions. He was one of the found- 
ers and Trustees of the New York Society Library, and 
in 1760 was the first President of the New York City 
Llospital. In the early Revolutionary struggle he was 
noted for his strong loyalist proclivities, and when hostili- 
ties began he went to England and there remained till his 
death, in 1789. By his marriage with the daughter of 
Stephen De Lancey he had a large family. " Robert, the 
eldest son," whites Gen. De Peyster, " married Mary, eld- 
est daughter of William Alexander, titular Earl of Stir- 
ling; Ann, their eldest daughter, married the Hon. Archi- 
bald Kennedy and became Countess of Cassilis; Susan 
married Philip Kearney and was mother of Major Gen. 
Stephen Watts Kearnt^y, the conqueror of New Mexico 
and California; Mary married Sir John Johnston, Bart., 
and, like her father, sufifcred the pains of exile and con- 
fiscation of property; Stephen, the famous Major Watts 
of Oriskany, and John, the public benefactor." We give 
this really correct genealogical record as an examplifica- 
lion of the way in which most of the old Scotch families 
have spread through what are now regarded as leading 
American houses, very few of which at the present day 
cannot point to some Scotch name in their family tree. 



126 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

John Watts, the son of this expatriated colonist, was 
bred to the study of the law, and was the last of the Royal 
Recorders of New York, serving in that capacity from 
1774 to 1777. As he threw in his lot with the winning 
side in the war, a large proportion of the confiscated es- 
tate of his father was returned to him and his brothers. 
He became Speaker of the New York Assembly — from 
1 79 1 to 1794 — served in Congress for two years, and in 
1806 became first Judge of Westchester County, N. Y. 
He performed many good services to his country and de- 
served all the honors he enjoyed, but his memory is best 
preserved by his noble act in founding and endowing 
with a legacy that came to him under distressful circum- 
stances the Leake and Watts Orphan House, in New 
York, a charity which to the present day continues its 
beneficent work. Like his father, he showed his par- 
tiality to his ancestral country by joining the ranks of the 
St. Andrew's Society, and in many other ways he demon- 
strated his warm heart for the old land. A fine statue of 
this patriot-jurist, representing him in his robes as Re- 
corder, has been erected in Trinity Churchyard, New 
York, by his descendant, Gen. J. Watts de Peyster. A 
more suitable site for such a memorial could not be 
found, excepting, perhaps, the corner of Twenty-sixth 
Street and Second Avenue, on the grounds upon which 
Bellevue Hospital is now located — grounds which for- 
merly belonged to his family. 

A much less known statesman than any of those we 
have yet mentioned, yet a man whose services were of 
tlie utmost consequence to the young republic, was John 
Ross, a native of Tain, who. in his day — a day before the 
Revolutionary sentiment developed into war — was one of 
the wealthiest citizens of Philadelphia. Ross had learned 
the principles of business in Perth, to which his family 
had removed when he was very young. He settled in 
Philadelphia in 1763, and soon was noted for his enthusi- 
astic advocacy of the principles which were tending to 
political independence; and for separation as the natural 
and only possible outcome of the entire sea of troubles 
brought about by the incapacity or carelessness or arro- 



BEVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 127 

gance, or all three combined, of the Home Government, 
he was decidedly outspoken. In 1776 he was appointed 
by Congress to attend to the purchase of stores — cloth- 
ing, arms, ammunition, wagons, camp utensils, &c. — for 
the army, and his whole business energy and tact were 
devoted to his duties in that connection. He was too 
honest a man to fill such a position — one of the few hon- 
est army contractors on record — and his own means 
were liberally placed at the disposal of his ofifice. He 
proved his patriotism by his bawbees, and cheerfully in- 
vested his whole fortune in supplementing the grants 
given by Congress for the purposes of his department. 
In this way he not only exhausted his own resources, but 
found himself confronted by debts amounting to over 
£20,000. This sum he had to make good, for Congress 
was unable to pay it, and dallied over the matter, as is 
customary for deliberative bodies on too many occasions 
when real business has to be transacted. Mr. Ross was a 
man of great intelligence, and enjoyed the friendship of 
such men as Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Rob- 
ert Morris. After the war he resumed business in Phila- 
delphia, and died in that city in 1800, in the seventy-first 
year of his age. 

Another Scot who did much in his own sphere to bring 
about the Revolution was William Murdoch, who was 
born at Glasgow in 1720. He came to America with his 
father, the Rev. George Murdoch, when that gentleman 
was appointed Rector of Prince George County, Mary- 
land, by Lord Baltimore. William was a member of the 
lower house of the General Assembly of Maryland from 
1745 till 1770, and was determined in his opposition to all 
tax edicts not imposed by or sanctioned by the people. 
He became recognized as one of the leaders of the 
tlouse, and it was mainly through him that it was placed 
so clearly on record on the popular side. In the resist- 
ance to the Stamp act he was particularly conspicuous, 
and there is no doubt he would have taken the field to 
support his principles had he not died in 1775, just as the 
crisis had been reached. 

Hitherto we have been dealing with honorable men — 



128 Til 10 S('<»'r IN AMIOklCA. 

111(11 will), lioucvcr iiiiii'li |)C()|)lr iiiiL;lit (liH(i willi IIk'Iii 
as lo llicir views or adioiis, were still eiililled to he re- 
spected on a( coiiiil ol" the lidiiesty <ii tluir motives and 
the uprightness ol their eomhiet, il for no other reasons. 
Il nia\ he well, ihereloic, for the sake of variety to rei'all 
one who was ;l tinieservei aiitl traitor, the only one de 
.s( rviii};' of these epithets wliii-li tlu' writer of this hook has 
iiiel with (with the exce|)tion, prohahlx, of ( ii'ii. Andrew 
VVillianison, who for his dnhious eonduet at Charleston 
and I'Isi'wheri' was called " llu' Uenediet Arnold of the 
South,") in his study of llu- ])arl Seotsinen took in the 
foniKliiiL; of America. This was John Allan, a native of 
l'",(liiil)iii l;Ii. Me was taken to Nova Scotia l)\ his father 
when oiil\ three years ol ai^c, so that on hehalf of piiir 
anld Scotland we nia\ take what comfort we can in the 
roMection that the j^ood inlhu-nces of Anld Ivet'kie did 
not have mm II to ilo with the moldiiif^ of his charaiMt'r 
a fortunate tliiii}; for the reputation of Anld Keekie. John 
prospered in the coloii\. Me studied law, became Clerk 
lo the Supreme ( ourt, and from 1770 lo 177^) was a mem- 
ber of the 1 louse of Assembly. I le <\i\vi\ with the Ami'ri- 
cans in the l\evolntionar\' War, although N'ova Scotia 
was inU-use in its lovaltv, an<l he used his position to aid 
the Kevolutionists a,t;ainst the lloiiu- and Colonial ( iov 
enimenls. lie secn-tly sent thi'iu information, tried to 
sway over the Indians to their side, rmd in many otlu'r 
ways attempted to weaken tlu' inllui'uces which held 
Nova Scotia aloof from the Revolution, and all the while 
that he was bound b\' his oath and his oflice and salary 
toprolect Ihitish and Colonial inlcrtsls. 11 is iierfidy was 
at last discoN'ered, and he foimil it expedient to ll\' across 
intd IVIainc. Mis wife was impiisoned by the authorities 
in the hope of learniiipf from her as luucli as possible of 
Ihe (>\1(Mit of bis niachiuafions, wbile liis anqry neiiji'bbors 
l)iu-ne(l his bouse lo tlu^ around. TTe seems, however, 
unlike most: traitors, to liave been very well repaid for Ins 
losses and troubles by those to whom he had rendered his 
foul services. Tn 1702 Massacbuselts oave him a ,<;ift of 
22,000 acres of laud, (on part of wbicb t1ie town of Whit- 
ing- now sb'inds,) and in 180T Con^rc'ss j;raul('d bim 2,000 



i{i':\'( »i,n'n<tNAin' iiiouoio.m. 



120 



;incs ill (Jliio. Ii stilus iiiiposMlilc lo s.iy a word in l'a\(ir 
"I this man's t-oinsc. I lad lie (ipcnlv avowi'd liisallatli 
'iK'il l'> III.- principle^ of the k'rvolnl ion and, like llicln- 
rocs of llial sIiii.l;^Ii', candidlv lliiown n{'( his allc'}^iani-c> 
lo liiilain, no sli<Mna could lia\c atlaclicd itself (o his 
iiiciiK.r). lull 1(. a( I the pari of a Irailor is incxcnsahit". 
I Ins man, in a minor dc}.;rcc, sini])ly ])laycd llic pail 
which l!ciic(|i(| Arnold played, and deserves lo he held in 
pro|)( irl i( male ci iiilcinpl. 

Mail) well kiK.wii American families dale llieir rise 
iiilo proimnence from Ihe pari iheir prot;eiiilors on lliis 
side look in Ihe pre K'c volnl loiiar \ movcnieiil, as well as 
111 Ihe slrn^t^lc ilself, and sevcr.il of llieiii can Irace Iheir 
• lesccnl cleailv fiMin well known and ancieiil Scollish 
li(»nses. 'Ihe K'lilherfnrds, for inslance, are descended 
from Sir |ohii Ivnlheifnrd of I'.di^'erslon, whose eldesi 
son fon<;hl in Xmenra. in 175S, and was killed in Ihe al 
''i*"''^ "'"' 'I'icoiidero-a ih.ii year, and lhron.i;li him 
''■"III ■'» Ih'shop of ( ■;iillmess, from whom Sir Waller 
S.-oll claimed desceiil. Ihe lale (.en. VViiilield Scoll, 
who was in command of Ihe American Arinv al 
lhe(inlhreak of Ihe eivil war, a posilion wliicdi he 
all.-imed afler ;i Ion-- series of disi in-nished services, 
'^iii'l li""iii which he ieliic(| ( ,n aci'oiml of Ihe inrirni 
ilics ol ;il;c, was ihe t^raiidsoii of a Scot who fouj^hl 
I'"" I'liiice ( h.irlie ,ii ( nlloden and was j^lad to make 
Ins escape lo \' ii- ini.i. Mis son, Ihe ( .eiieral's lalliei, 
was a delermiiieij ;idvoc,ile of separalion when Ihe 
< nsis came, and ihe (ienei.d himself lived in r<'l ireineiil 
nnlil May, i,Sf,() Iohl; cikmi-Ii lo le;irn llial Ihe Nalioii 

^ hail eineri^ed lioin I he - 1 e;ilesl eivil war on record, wilh 
Ihe Slars ;[nd Snipes slill Ihe Mai; of Ihe coimlrv from 
III'' k-ikes lo Ihe ( mif. .Aiiolhei- iioled ;nid earlier warrior 
"I llic same n.ime \\;is < icii. John Moiiii Scoll, who w;is 
horn in America in 17^0 .-ind was foiirlh in desceiil from 
Sir joJm Scoll of Aik rum, one of ihe liisi haroui'ls of 
No\;i Scolia, desceiKJeil ill Ins liirn from Ihe .Scolts of 
''-'ilw<'arie Ihe head of lh<> house, (.en. |. Moriii Scoll 
was a ,i;r;i(|ii;ile ol N;ile I 'niversity, .•iiid, possessiii}.'- a 

j ready and vij^orous ijeii, jised il wilh marked purpose' in 



130 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

assailing the measures by which the British Government 
finally drove the Colonies into armed opposition. He 
was long a member — and a very influential one — of the 
Provincial Council of New York, and in 1776, having 
been appointed a Brigadier General, he fought with dis- 
tinction at the battle of Long Island and elsewhere. In 
1777 he was Secretary of State for New York; for a time 
he was at the head of a Committee of Safety when the 
exigencies of the struggle left the Government of New 
York in a chaotic condition, and he closed a memorable 
and in every way honorable career by serving in Con- 
gress for three years. He retired from active work in 
1783, died a year later, and was buried in Trinity Church- 
yard — the historic God's-acre of New York. 

But by far the most noted of the Scottish American 
families of the Revolutionary period and after, from a 
national. State and municipal point of view, was that of 
the Livingstons. A family which numbers among its 
members one of the greatest of the old Patroons, a Chan- 
cellor of the State of New York, a Signer of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, a Justice of the United States Su- 
preme Court, a Secretary of State of the United States, a 
Governor of New Jersey, besides soldiers, poets, and 
statesmen of all degrees, is surely entitled to be regarded 
as pre-eminent. A volume or two would be required to 
relate its story, and in this place there is no opportunity 
for doing more than briefly indicating what the family 
has done to mold and develop the great republic of to- 
day. It is commonly said that the American patriots had 
no fathers, meaning by that, of course, that their fathers 
were of the commonplace order and were not worth men- 
tioning except as links in a genealogical chain, of no 
more importance than the links in the chain supporting 
a gorgeous badge of of^ce are to the gorgeous badge it- 
self. But the Scotch ancestor from whom the American 
Livingstons sprung had a life history as interesting as 
any individual who ever founded a family, and in many 
ways more important than most others. For that reason 
we refer to it here, for, although John Livingstone of 
Ancrum was not a Scottish-American and never saw 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 131 

America, it was not his fault. He made the attempt and 
the elements were against him. It is difficult to learn 
much about the progenitors of the American Revolution- 
ary heroes, to know what manner of men they were, how 
far their careers were likely to influence their children, 
and the principles which animated them while they were 
engaged in the battle of life. But the character of the 
immediate ancestor of the American Livingstons is 
known by all who care to read his writings or study the 
records of his career and of his opinions, which he himself 
and others have handed down to us. In him we find all 
the features which made the family in America so promi- 
nent in public life. He was a typical Scotsman. He was 
steadfast, brave, outspoken, yet cautious. He stood reso- 
lutely for the truth, sacrificed everything rather than give 
up his convictions, and would have preferred passing 
through life in the character of a humble but devoted 
minister of the Gospel rather than that of the public 
defender of a principle which, in the long run, all the 
machinery and power of the Government were to be em- 
ployed to crush out. His own ambition was to remain a 
minister — " a servant in the vineyard of the Lord," as he 
expressed it. Circumstances, instead, forced him to be- 
come a leader; to carry on what has been called the evan- 
gelical succession in the Kirk of Scotland, after it had 
been in the hands of John Knox, Andrew Melville, and 
Alexander Henderson. 

Robert Livingston, the first of the American family 
and the youngest son of this patriot preacher, was born 
in the manse at Ancrum in 1654. He was educated in 
Holland, with the view of following a commercial career, 
and left that country for America about a year after his 
father's death. He first tried Charleston, but soon moved 
from there and settled in New York State, where he at 
once entered upon a successful career. In 1680 he be- 
came Secretary of the Connnissaries at Albany, made 
money as an Indian trader and in practicing law, and in 
1686 became Town Clerk of the City of Albany, a posi- 
tion he held till 1721. In 1686 he received from Governor 
Dongan a large tract of land on the Hudson, the begin- 



J32 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ning of the vast territorial possessions of the family, and 
this Colonial grant was in 171 5 confirmed by royal char- 
ter from George I., a charter which conferred manorial 
privileges to the holder of the estate. He served in the 
Colonial Assembly for many years, and was once Speak- 
er of that body. He had the Scotch " knack " of hokhng 
on to whatever he acquired, and long before he died, in 
1725, he was regarded as one of the wealthiest and most 
influential citizens of the colony. 

Robert Livingston married the widow (nee Schuyler) 
of a minister, a" member of the Van Rensselaer family, 
and this union brought him into social relations with the 
oldest and most dignified Knickerbocker families of the 
colony. By her he'liad three sons and several daughters. 
The eldest son, Philip, succeeded to the principal family 
possessions and added to them mainly by his success as 
an Indian trader, and among his sons was Peter Van 
P.rugh Livingston, who was President of the New York 
Congress; Philip, one of the Signers of the Declaration 
of Independence, and William, Governor of New Jersey. 
It was to one of his descendants that Robert Fuhon, the 
engineer and steam navigation pioneer, was married — a 
marriage to which was due the necessary financial back- 
ing to make the Clermont a success. From the second 
son, Robert, who acquired the estate of Clermont, per- 
haps the most noted branch of the family was descended. 
His son. Judge R. R. Livingston, was the father of the 
famous Chancellor R. R. Livingston, who administered 
the oath of office to George Washington on the latter's 
taking up the Presidency in accordance with the voice of 
the people; of Henry B'. Livingston, who was one of the 
bravest officers in the Revolutionary Army, and of Edward 
Livingston, Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson, and 
whose services in the acquisition of Louisiana are still 
gratefully remembered. Edward was probably the ablest 
man of liis family after the ancestor of Ancrum. but his 
life, on the whole, was too full of disappointments to be a 
happy one. One of his sisters was married to Gen. Mont- 
cjomery of Quebec fame, another to Secretary of War 
Armstrong, and a third to Gov. Morgan Lewis. A score 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 133 

or more names of other American descendants of the 
persccnted Scotch preacher might be named as ilhistrious 
examples in various and honored walks in life, but 
enough has been said to show that the influence of the 
humble Scottish manse led to wonderful lesults in the 
New World. Probably no family on record ever, had so 
many distinguished representatives within the space of a 
few generations as that of tliis branch of an ancient 
Scotch house. 

Before leaving the Livingston family we may here re- 
call the stormy career of Col. James Moncrieff, who was 
related to Gov. William Livingston and other Ameri- 
cans by marriage. He was born in Fifeshire about 1735 
and w^as educated at Woolwich as a military engineer, 
])Ut seems to have faced the world for himself in the ca- 
l)acity of Captain of a privateer. He was in New York 
when the Revolutionary turmoil culminated in hostilities, 
and it was thought that he would throw in his lot with 
the Colonists, but he declined to throw off his allegiance 
to the Crown. In 1776 he served under Lord Percy on 
Staten Island, and two years later was taken prisoner at 
hdatbush, L. I. Afterward he performed valuable serv- 
ices for the royal forces at Savannah, and it was he who 
planned the defensive works at Charleston when the 
r.ritish held that seaport. He was commissioned Lieuten- 
ant Colonel in 1780, and certainly deserved that recogni- 
tion of his endeavors, but it is a pity that his memory 
should be tarnished by some grave charges which have 
never been satisfactorily cleared away — notably one of 
shipping 800 slaves from Charleston to the West Indies 
with the view of pocketing by the sale of these human 
beings. He certainly was a brave man and an able sol- 
dier, but he did not seem to impress liis military supe- 
riors very favorably or to be generally well liked. Of his 
closing years nothing is known beyond the fact that he 
died in h>ance in 1793. 

On the sea the Scots in America, although by no 
means as numerous in number as those w'ho took part in 
the stirring events on shore, won equally noteworthy rec- 
ords. The most famous of these, with a reputation ex- 



]^34 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

tending over the Old World as well as the New, is Paul 
Jones, although a very varied estimate of his character is 
taken.' By some he is spoken about as famous, by others 
as notorious, and between these extremes lie very con- 
siderable ground for argument and opinion. Briefly 
summed up, his career was as follows: He was born at 
Arbigland, Kirkcudbrightshire, in 1747, the son of a 
gardener named John Paul, after whom he was named. 
His parents were poor, but they kept him in attendance 
at the parish school until he was twelve years of age, long 
enough to give him a good rudimentary education, and 
then lie was sent to earn his own living as a sailor. A 
year later he crossed the Atlantic for the first time and 
visited an elder brother, William, who had settled on the 
banks of the Rappahannock, in \'irginia. and married a 
\'irginia girl. He was welcomed there, and possibly the 
kindly reception he met with warmed his heart to Amer- 
ica. He continued in the merchant service, making many 
voyages, among them at least two slave-catching expedi- 
tions, until 1773, when, hearing that his brother had died 
in Virginia childless and without leaving a will, he has- 
tened there to settle up the estate. It was at this time 
that for some reason now unknown he assumed the name 
of Jones. 

He seems to have invested his means in Tobago and 
to have soon lost everything by the mismanagement or 
dishonestv of agents there. Then he turned planter and 
hoped to devote his time to peaceful pursuits. But soon 
the rush of events brought the Colonies face to face with 
the mother countrv, and Capt. Jones, as he was called, 
espoused the popular cause. In defending his position 
he afterward wrote: " I was indeed born in Britain; but 
I do not inherit the degenerate spirit of that fallen nation, 
which I at once lament and despise. It is far beneath me 
to reply to their hireling invectives. They are strangers 
to the envied approbation that greatly animates and re- 
wards the man who draws his sword only in support of 
the dignity of freedom. America has been the country of 
my fond election from the age of thirteen, when I first 
saw it. I had the honor to hoist, with my own hands, 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 135 

the flag of freedom the first time it was displayed on the 
Delaware, and I have attended it with veneration ever 
since on the ocean." 

This raising of the flag occurred on the Alfred, one of 
the five ships which constituted the American Navy 
when the Revolutionary War broke out. Jones, on the 
first sign of hostilities, offered his services to the Con- 
gress, and he was appointed First Lieutenant of the 
Alfred. The details of his naval career are so well known, 
so fully recorded even in American school histories, that 
there is little use in occupying space with recording 
them here. They prove Jones to have been a most skill- 
ful seaman, an able manager of men, an ingenious tac- 
tician, and a brave man. In the course of it, however, 
he visited his birthplace and landed a force, with the in- 
tention, according to his own letters, of capturing Lord 
Selkirk and carrying him away to America as a hostage. 
r>ut Lord Selkirk was not in his mansion, and the sea- 
men had to content themselves with robbing the premi- 
ses of all the silver plate they could find. This adventure 
is the great blot upon Paul Jones's character, and his 
correspondence shows that he saw a blunder had been 
made. He returned the plate, or as much of it as he 
could, after a time, and explained his motives. It 
stamped him, in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen at 
home, not as a patriot fighting for freedom, but as a pi- 
rate of the most vulgar and mercenary sort, for no one 
with any spark of sentiment would have wantonly carried 
the horrors of war to his own birthplace. Besides, he 
used the early knowledge he had obtained of St. Mary's 
Isle to rob the place of its treasure chest. However the 
people may have been justified in their views of the ad- 
venture or not, there is no doubt that Jones's yarn about" 
desiring to capture Lord Selkirk is a very improbable 
one, for Lord Selkirk was too unimportant a personage 
to afifect in any way the conduct of the war or to bring 
about any wholesale discharge of American prisoners. It 
seems more likely that Jones's men w'anted plunder and 
he took them where he knew they might get some with 
the utmost ease, and in a place which he was perfectly 



136 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

aware was wholly unprotected. Then, havhig" seen the 
mistake he made, he tried to remedy it as best he could. 
Lord Selkirk was very glad to get back as much of his 
property as he did, but that did not alter the complexion 
of the afifair with the mass of the people, and Jones was re- 
garded by his brother Scots as being a mercenary cut- 
throat and robber, a light in which they did not consider 
any of the other Scots who fought against King George 
in the Revolution. Jones's subsequent descents on the 
British coast, notably his proposed capture of Edinburgh 
and Leith while in command of a squadron of French 
ships carrying the American flag, while more legitimate 
under the circumstances, did not alter this popular feel- 
ing, for it was felt that he might have left puir auld Scot- 
land alone, if he had a Scottish heart in his breast at all. 
/However, his career was a wonderful one, and he richly 
earned the honors which his adopted country awarded 
him. On the conclusion of the war Jones attempted to 
establish a fur trade between the American Northwest 
territories and Japan and China, but the scheme fell 
through. In 1787, after being disappointed in hopes of 
active service in other directions, he accepted an appoint- 
ment in the Russian service, and took a prominent part 
in the war with Turkey. His fortunes seemed to rise to 
their highest point at that time, but he was the victim 
of intrigue and jealousy on the part of others who 
favored the course of the Empress Catherine, and, weary 
and worn out, he ultimately resigned from her service. 
Then he retired to Paris, where, after a long illness, he 
died in 1789, in the forty-fifth year of his age. 

How a man could pose as a pure devotee of freedom 
and unsheath his sword with equal readiness in the 
service of the American Congress, and of that aban- 
doned, cruel wretch, the Empress Catherine H. of Rus- 
sit, is, it seems to us, a conundrum that would require 
a good deal of reasoning to demonstrate. Except for 
office, there was nothing to attract any man to the serv- 
ice of the Russian autocrat, least of all one who avowed 
to be opposed to the tyranny of Britain. Nor can it be 
pretended that the campaign he waged for Catherine 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 137 

against the Turks had anything to do with hbcrty. It 
was simply a matter of position and pay. He forsook the 
Stars and Stripes and all that glorious ensign meant for 
the world and talked glibly of the " honor of the Russian 
flag and the interests of Her (Russian) Majesty." 

This, however, is not the generally prevailing idea of 
the character of Paul Jones. A recent writer puts the 
popular American idea very clearly as follows: 

" It is not necessary at this day to refute the slanders 
once current against Paul Jones; but, incredible as it 
ma}' seem, within the last ten years he has been de- 
scribed in popular verse as a notorious pirate, in a lead- 
ing American newspaper as a privateer, and in a book 
alleged to be for the instruction of American youth as 
a ' bold marauder! ' This, be it remembered, applies to 
a man who headed the list of the First Lieutenants ap- 
pointed in the navy of the Colonies on Dec. 12, 1775; 
who held the first Captain's conunission granted under 
the United States, Aug. 8, 1776; who was made the 
commanding officer of all American ships in European 
waters in 1778; who received the thanks of Congress in 
1781 ; who was unanimously elected by Congress to be 
the first officer of the American Navy in 1781, and who 
received a gold medal from Congress, similar to that 
given to Washington, in 1787. Moreover, he was pre- 
sented with a gold sword by Louis XVL of France, and 
also with the Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit, 
never before given to a foreigner. He was also a Rear 
Admiral in the servace of Russia, and received the Order 
of St. Anne from the Empress Catherine. Greater trib- 
utes than any foreign honor or order he received were 
the esteem in which he was held by Washington, and the 
affection felt for him by Franklin, Morris, Jefferson, and 
Lafayette. If they are worthy of belief, Paul Jones was 
an unswerving patriot, and a very great man. -^ * ■■'■ 
Lie served with the utmost distinction in the Continental 
Navy, but without pay or allowance. The British Gov- 
ernment officially declared him a ' traitor, pirate, and 
felon,' and put a price of 10,000 guineas upon his head; 



138 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

but he was no more a traitor, pirate, or felon than Wash- 
ington was, or any other man who, born a Britisli sub- 
ject, chose to throw off his aUegiance." 

We fear this reasoning, even with the impartial senti- 
ment which prevails in these later days of peace and 
good will, will hardly be accepted. There is a wide dif- 
ference between the cases of the patriots named and the 
case of Paul Jones. Washington, Franklin, and Jeffer- 
son, although originally British subjects, were born in 
America. Morris was by birth an Englishman, Lafayette 
a Frenchman; yet neither of these men fired a shot 
against the countries which gave them birth. We can- 
not, reviewing the career of Paul Jones, regard him in 
the light of a disinterested patriot, nor hold him up to 
detestation as a pirate pure and simple. He was simply 
a maritime Dugald Dalgetty, true to whatever cause he 
fought for, and, naturally, uttering its shibboleths and 
upholding its right; but, while placing this estimate upon 
his worth, we cannot ignore the fact, even if we wished to 
ignore it, that he did grand service to the young re- 
public in its struggle for freedom and nationality. 

This doughty representative of auld Scotia's naval 
prowess, when all is said on the subject, has — justly or 
unjustly — a cloud resting on his fame, and so it may be 
in keeping with the fitness of things to mention one or 
two representatives of the thistle at sea on whose record 
no one has ventured to cast any smirch, for the best of 
all reasons — that their lives were above reproach. Few 
people now remember anything of Admiral Schank, al- 
though he was a man of unusual prominence in his day. 
He was born at Castlcrig, King-horn, Fifeshire, in 1740, 
and was a cadet of the family of Shank of Castelrig, 
which received its territorial possessions from a grant by 
King Robert the Bruce. Why the Admiral changed the 
spelHng of his name is not known; possibly simply on 
account of a Treak, for most great men have their weak- 
nesses. In early life he learned seamanship on a mer- 
chant vessel, but he entered the Royal Navy and passed 
slowly through the grades of promotion till he attained 



REVOLUTIONARY HEROES, 139 

the rank of Second Lieutenant, His first position of im- 
portance was that of senior officer of the naval squadron 
at St. John, N. B,, and when hostihties were rife he ren- 
dered good service to the Home Government. One in- 
stance of his energy that attraced general attention at 
the time was in connection with his ship, the Inflexible. 
He commenced building it at Quebec, and within six 
weeks from the day its first timbers were laid he had 
built, rigged, completed it from stem to stern, put her 
to sea and won a battle with it. He fitted out several 
armaments for employment on the great lakes, and at 
one time had four dockyards under his direction. He also 
distinguished himself in Burgoyne's campaign in 1777, 
when he acted in the capacity of engineer, and greatly 
facilitated by his arrangements the movements of the 
troops. When peace was declared he returned to Britain 
and, with the rank of Captain, enjoyed a period of 
leisure, which he devoted to literary studies and to 
the development of theories in seamanship which his 
experience had suggested. In 1793 he published a treat- 
ise on the sailing of vessels in shallow water by a series 
of sliding keels he invented, and which could be operated 
easily by means of some mechanical arrangements. He 
also contri1)uted several valuable papers for the transac- 
tions of the Society for Improving Naval Architecture, 
of which he was one of the founders. He held several 
active appointments in connection with his profession 
before being, in 1805, raised to the rank of Rear Admiral, 
and he afterward received, in succession, the higher 
honors of Vice Admiral and Admiral of the Blue. He 
died at Dawlish, Devonshire, in 1823, leaving behind 
him a record, if not as brilliant, as honorable as that of 
any other name on the long roll of British Admirals. 

There is a tradition that Robert R. Randall, the founder 
of the noble home for aged seamen, on Staten Island, 
known as Sailors' Snug Harbor, was the son of a Scottish 
merchant. The conmionly told story is that " Thomas 
Randall, a thrifty Scotchman wlio amassed a compe- 
tence as an ' honest privatcersman ' in pre-Revolution- 



140 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ary times, and whose great plantations near the then 
Spanish port of New-Orleans were used as the store- 
houses for the products of his enterprise as a bold buc- 
caneer, followed the example of the rude forefathers of 
his hamlet — in short, died, leaving tO' his ' only ' son, 
Robert Richard, his vast possessions and remorse." The 
remorse feature of the story is the only thing that ele- 
vates the character of Randall above that of the one com- 
monly ascribed to Capt. Kidd. Gov. Trask, however, 
who, as the executive head of the Snug Harbor, has in- 
vestigated the career of the founder's father, says that 
instead of being a pirate and all that the name implies, 
Thomas Randall was a well-known American patriot, a 
member of the Committee of One Hundred in 1785, one 
of the original founders of the New York Chamber of 
Commerce, and the first President of the Marine S:>- 
ciety of the Port of New York, an organization which 
had for its object ' the relief of indigent and distressed 
masters of vessels, their widows and orphan children.' 
Thomas Randall was for many years intimately connect- 
ed through ties of friendship and business with Alexander 
Hamilton, the great soldier-lawyer-financier of the Col- 
onies, and it is recorded that Randall and Hamilton had 
built and fitted out, at their own expense, the vessel 
which conveyed Gen. Washington from Elizabethport to 
New York on his journey to the first inauguration. 

Capt. Trask has taken a great deal of pains to solve 
the question of Thomas Randall's birth, but without suc- 
cess. *' If a Scotsman," he says, " he must have come 
to this country when young, as at the age of twenty-five 
he appears to have been a shipmaster and in command 
of the American brigantine. The Fox!" The son, how- 
ever, bequeathed his means unto a charity which has 
proved of practical service to the class for whom it was 
intended, and. in the absence of proof to the contrary, we 
feel justified in claiming Thomas Randall as a Scot on 
the strength of the tradition. Such institutions have ever 
been favorite ones with Scotsmen of means, and perhaps 
it may have been one of the dreams of Thomas Randall 
to found such a home, a dream made a realitv bv his son. 



CHAPTER V. 

MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 

NO class of men have done more to direct public 
opinion and conserve public morals in North America 
than the preachers of the Gospel v/ho have settled in the 
United States and Canada from Scotland. In speaking 
of the Scotch clergy on this continent, and particularly in 
the United States, we generally think of them as Pres- 
byterians. The majority of them certainly were, and 
are, of the Kirk of John Knox, but we also find them 
in all denominations, Episcopalian and Baptist, Method- 
ist and Roman Catholic. Indeed, one of the Bishops of 
the latter Church in the United States who died a year 
or two ago was a native of Scotland, and as proud of 
the fact as he was of his crozier. Presbyterianism, how- 
ever, is so much associated with the history of Scotland 
that when we speak of a Scottish clergyman in America 
he is generally supposed to be a Presbyterian — until the 
contrary is made known. Then, many Scotch preachers 
ordained in some one of the Presbyterian denomina- 
tions in Scotland become Congregationalists when they 
reach America, believing that that form of Church gov- 
ernment is more suited to the requirements of the coun- 
try than any other, and many have found in the pulpit of 
the Reformed Dutch Church a haven from which they 
could preach the Word. Such changes may, of course, 
be made without sacrificing one iota of the preachers' 
early notions of the unity of the denomination and the 
inter-dependence of individual congregations taught in 
the policy and practice of the religious organization un- 
141 



142 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

der which their fathers had worshipped, and in which 
they themselves had been trained for the work of the 
ministry. 

Sometimes we read of a Scotsman who crossed the 
Atlantic to further the views of his denomination as a 
missionary, and of this the history of the Quakers has 
already furnished us with several examples. Sometimes 
the head and front of a new denomination settles in 
America, hoping in a new country to find men ready to 
change the views they had previousl}^ held, or at least so 
open to conviction as to hold out some hope in the wa^ 
of making converts. This was the case with Robert San- 
deman. He was born at Perth in 17 18, and after a short 
university course at Edinburgh entered into commercial 
life in the linen trade. He married the daughter of the 
Rev. John Glas, minister of Tealing, near Dundee, whose 
views against a national church and other matters led to 
his deposition and to the founding of a new sect — the 
Glassites. Sandeman not only adopted his father-in-law's 
views, but reduced them to a system. The Glassites had 
some peculiar views on church government, and were 
pronounced against all State connection with religion. 
They did not believe that their spiritual teachers should 
be set apart, or that they should contract second mar- 
riages, or that prayer should be promiscuous. They had 
love feasts — real feasts — celebrated the Lord's Supper 
every Sabbath, interpreted the Scriptures literally, disap- 
proved of eating animals that had been strangled, and 
adopted such minor matters as washing the feet of broth- 
er disciples and implanting the kiss of charity, and 
many other views which drove them apart from the other 
communities into which the religious world of Scotland 
was divided. Sandeman became what might be called 
the evangelist of the new church, and was instrumental 
in organizing in connection with it many congregations, 
not only in Scotland, but in London, Newcastle, and 
other English towns. In 1764, leaving Mr. Glas to 
watch over the denomination at home, Sandeman crossed 
to Boston and founded a church there, the body being 
known in America by his name — Sandemanians. He also 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 143 

established a church at Danbiiry, Conn., and congrega- 
tions elsewhere, but the progress of the movement was 
hampered by the uncertain political conditions which be- 
gan to prevail, and Sandcman suffered many disappoint- 
ments. He died at ]3anbury in 1771. Probably not 
more th.an 5,000 persons in America could then have 
been regarded as adherents to Sandeman's views, and 
after his death that number began steadily to decrease, al- 
tliough, to a small extent, they are still represented in 
American denominational lists. During the Revolution- 
ary War they were noted for their loyalty to Britain, and 
that fact alone kept them from winning the amount of at- 
tention which their earnestness, their charity, and their 
striving after pure Christianity entitled them. 

Another worker in a new sect — a sect, however, whose 
purpose was to unite all the sects, with the Bible as the 
sole bond of union, was Walter Scott, who, it has been 
claimed by some of his admirers, could claim kinship 
with the " Author of Waverley." He was born in the 
now popular and pleasant town of Mofifat in 1796. He 
landed in the United States in 1818 and became accjuaint- 
ed with Thomas and Alexander Campbell, father and 
son, two Irishmen who had the courage to think out re- 
ligious problems for themselves. For Alexander Camp- 
bell, Scott conceived a warm friendship, and the views of 
the Disciples of Christ, as the holders of the Campbellite 
doctrines were called, found in him a devoted believer. 
A_s a preacher, Scott exhibited such oratorical powers that 
he became recognized as a leader in the new ranks, and 
his writings formed a feature for years in Alexander 
Campbell's paper, " The Christian Baptist." The sect 
thus founded spread rapidly over many sections of the 
United States, and it has churches in various parts of the 
world. Its vitality seems to increase with the passing of 
time — the great wrecker of so many sects — and it now has 
over 2,000 ministers and some 2,500 churches. For much 
of this popularity the labors of Walter Scott must receive 
credit, for in the work of the organization he seemed 
never to tire. Jnst before the outbreak of the war of the 
rebellion, as miglit be expected from one holding such 



144 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

broad, simple views of Christian life, he spoke ag"ainst an 
appeal to arms, and in a pamphlet called " The Union," 
issued in i86i, a short time before his death, he uttered a 
ring-ing protest against the impending conflict. Words, 
however, by that time were of no avail — affairs had passed 
that stage, and the bombardment of Fort Sumter an- 
nounced the beginning of one of the most appalling of 
modern wars. Scott was then in infirm health, and the 
grief which the news of the doings at Sumter occasioned 
hastened the end, and closed in gloom a life that had 
been spent in trying to infuse light and joy through the 
world. He died at Mayslick, Ky., in 1861. 

Sometimes we find Scotsmen among the pioneers or 
active workers in fields that are neither orthodox nor es- 
tablished, seekers after something new, as zealous as the 
typical Yankee. Even in the ranks of the Mormon El- 
dership the ubiquitous Scot can be found, and those of 
them we have met have displayed the greatest earnest- 
ness in their work and expressed a most complete belief 
in the righteousness of the doctrines held by tliat people. 
So, too, in the circles of the Spiritualists and such-like 
" new-fangled " folks, Scotsmen seem to hold prominent 
rank. The most noted of all the modern Spiritualists 
was David Douglas Home, who was born- in Edinburgh 
in 1833 and died in Paris — a lunatic — in 1886. He settled 
in America in 1840, and at the age of seventeen blossomed 
out into a medium. His life may generally be classed 
as that of an adventurer, with his fame as a spiritualist 
as its foundation, while as the prototype of Browning's 
study of " Mr. Sludge, the Medium," he even found a 
place in poetry. His spiritualistic performances were re- 
markable, whatever way w^e may look at them, and 
included all sorts of manifestations. Home had a 
career in Europe as well as in America. In 1858, 
while, in St. Petersburg, he married a Russian lady of 
rank. He joined the Roman Catholic Ciiurch, but was 
expelled for some of his manifestations. In London he 
was one of the curiosities of the capital for several \ears, 
and, his wife having died in 1862, he married again — 
this time also a Russian lady of noble birth — in 1872. He 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 145 

wrote a number of works on spiritualism, and certainly 
made many converts to his peculiar views. 

If, however, we want to measure fully the influence 
which Scotland's clergy have had upon America, we need 
look no further than to the history of Presbyterianism in 
the United States. It is not much more than a century 
ago that the first General Assembly, with its 17 Presby- 
teries and 180 ministers, met in Philadelphia. Now there 
is hardly a town in the country where at least one church 
belonging to the denomination is not to be found, while 
its array of colleges, its missionary operations, and the 
extent and variety of its evangelistic work, make the 
American Presbyterian Church, North as well as South, 
one of the most active agents in the modern religious 
world. In the early history of the country Scotch Presby- 
terianism was even a much more pronounced factor in its 
religious and moral development, despite its comparative 
meagreness of workers, adherents, and means, than now, 
and one authority says that two-thirds of the Presbyter- 
ian ministers in America, prior to 1738, were graduates 
of Glasgow University. In the first Presbytery meeting, 
at Philadelphia, in or about 1700, there were seven minis- 
ters, and two of these, Nathaniel Taylor and John \\'!1- 
son, were natives of Scotland, three belonged to the 
North of Ireland and were of Scotch descent and educa- 
tional training, and one was a native of New-England, 
of whose education and ancestry nothing seems to be 
known. Thus, six of this pioneer band of seven owed to 
Scotland the grit and fidelity of purpose that enabled 
them to assume the dangers and hardships of pioneer 
life. One of these Irish Scots, the Rev. Francis Makem- 
ie, a graduate of Glasgow University, is credited with 
being the founder of Presbyterianism in America, hav- 
ing organized a church at Snow Hill, Md., in 1684, with 
the aid of his trusted Scotch elder, Adam Spence. A 
claim for priority is alsa made for a church at Hemp- 
stead, which was founded in 1644 '^y the Rev. Mr. Den- 
ton, a Presbyterian preacher from England, but Denton 
should rather be placed under the general head of 
Nonconformist, ancl as we judge from the story of his 



14 G THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ministry at Hempstead, the chuixh he founded was a 
Congreg'ational rather than a Presbyterian institution. 
Makemie not only founded one church, but four others, 
within comparatively easy reach of Snow Hill, and did 
not rest content until he had the churches he founded 
and those of other pioneers organized into a Presbytery, 
and with the organization of that body began, really, the 
history of Presbyterianism in America. In 1716 the first 
Synod, constituted by four Presbyteries, was held in the 
" City of Brotherly Love," and in 1789 the organization 
of the Church was completed by the meeting of a Gen- 
eral Assembly. No better or more inspiring " visible 
sign " of Scotland's influence upon America is to be 
found than in the growth and present wide-reaching 
influence of the Presbyterian Church in all its branches 
on the continent. 

But under whatever denominational flag the Scotch, 
preachers in America have enrolled themselves, their 
influence has been, with very few and very far-separated 
exceptions, for good in their ministerial relations, while 
as citizens they have been ever active and practical in 
manifesting how the duties of honest, upright, loyal citi- 
zenship should be considered and performed. Ia'cu ns 
far back as the time of the Revolution there is abundant 
evidence to show that they were fast in their loyalty, 
whether their sentiments caused them to remain faithfid 
to King George or, as was more generally the case, their 
,^ convictions impelled them to transfer their loyalty to the 
Continental Congress. The leading characteristic of the 
great majority of the Scottish-American preachers in the 
past seems to have been their intense earnestness, their 
undoubted sincerity. They had the national dourness, 
the argumentative disposition of many of their country- 
men, and several of them were led into uncongenial posi- 
tions — to change even from one denomination into an- 
other in the hope of finding more freedom for their views 
or more ])eace for the current of their daily lives; but 
over all, as we study the careers of these preachers, or 
such of them, rather, as we have been privileged to read 
about, we find one grand principle ever sustaining and 



MINISTIOKS AND KKI.IGIOUS TL'LXCH l^HiS. I47 

inspiring- ihcni — that of pcrfornnng- faithl'ully the com- 
mission, as tliey conceived it, which the Master had 
given them to do. A recent writer in a rehgious paper 
has estimated that among the foreign ministers who 
have preached in tliis country from its beginning- some 
,^,000 have hailed from Scotland. We do not know how 
the writer arrived at his figures, but we tliink his estimate 
rather under than above the mark. With his calcula 
tion. however, assumed as correct, it can be understood 
that all tvpes of good men are contained among the 
host. 

One of the most famous of the early Scotch ministers 
to visit America was the Rev. William Dunlop, who 
afterward became Principal of Glasgow University. He 
was the son of a minister in Paisley, was graduated at 
the University of Cdasgow, and in 1679 obtained his 
license as a preacher, ddie year 1679, however, was a 
distracting- one in the history of the Scottish Kirk, for 
in it were fought the battles of Drumclog and IJothwcU 
r)ridge. In May of that year Archbishop Sharp met his 
death by violence on Magus Moor, near St. Andrews, 
and the Covenanters were persecuted witli the most 
fiendish cruelt\-. Dmdop, naturally, was on the perse- 
cuted side, and was active in the movements against the 
State enactments, and to escape from the dangers to 
which he was exposed he joined a party which was 
formed to cross the Atlantic, and he settled in South 
Carolina. There he resided, preaching and teaching imtil 
1690. He was highly esteemed, and doubtless had he 
remained in America woidd \\ayc attained an influential 
position in the ministry, but he looked upon himself sim- 
ply as an exile, his lieart yearned for home, and less than 
two years after the Revolution brought peace to Scot- 
land he was again in his native land. lie was at once 
appointed by King William I'rineijv'd of Clasgow Uni- 
versity, and held that position until his death. He had 
married in early life Sarah, sister of the famous Principal 
Carstairs, " the Cardinal " of King William's Court, and 
she accompanied him to vSouth Carolina, and there their 
eldest son, Alexander, was born in 1684. lie went to 



148 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Scotland with his parents in 1690, and uhimately became 
Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow, and 
was regarded as the foremost teacher of that language 
of his time. 

A preacher much more actively identified with the 
history of IVesbyterianism in America was the Rev. 
George Gillespie, who was born near Stirling in 1683, 
and, after being educated in Glasgow University, was 
licensed as a preacher in 1712. In that same year he 
arrived in Boston with a highly commendatory letter 
from Principal Stirling of Glasgow to Dr. Cotton Mather 
and was soon placed in charge of the church at Wood- 
bridge, N. J. He remained there only a short time, as, 
toward the close of 171 3, he was ordained minister of 
White Clay Creek, Del. There he became one of the 
busiest men in the Church, for he had several preach- 
ing stations to attend to, and he spared neither time 
nor labor in the faithful discharge of his duties to each. 
He was a noted leader in the controversies which had 
sprung up in the Church and which resulted, in 1741, in 
a memorable secession. As a writer his pen was particu- 
larly ready not only in forwarding his own views, but in 
advocating tolerance for the views of others. His trea- 
tise " Against Deists and Freethinkers," published at 
Philadelphia in 1735, was an able argument against such 
heresies, and in considering the events of his somewhat 
bitter controversial career we read with a smile his " Ser- 
mons against Divisions in Christ's Churches " when we 
remember that they were issued in New York in 1740, 
just as an impending schism was about to distract the 
energies of the Church — a schism which, in a manner 
natural in a Scotsman, he had a considerable share in 
])ringing about. Mr. Gillespie died in 1760. 

A contemporary of Mr. Gillespie who was also noted 
as a controversialist, but of a less bitter type, was the 
Rev. Alexander Garden, who was born at Edinburgh in 
1685 and settled in Charleston, S. C, in 1719 as rector of 
St. Philip's (Episcopal) Parish. From the first he was a 
success in the work of the ministry, and he soon be- 
came noted as a leader in local religious circles. He 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 149 

])roug-lit about a series of animal meetings of the clergy 
in and around Charleston, and by that means alone did 
a great amount of practical good, but his great claim to 
khully remembrance lies in the interest he took in the 
education and religious instruction of the negroes. In 
1740 he entered into a controversy with the famous 
George Whitelield which attracted much attention all 
over the country. His arguments against the famous 
Apostle of Methodism were printed under the title of 
" Six Letters to the Rev. George Whitelield " and had a 
v>ide circulation, and he also published a few of his ser- 
mons — able, orthodox, and practical discourses^which 
are much superior to the ordinary nm of such produc- 
tions. Mr. Garden was a most enthusiastic Scot, and 
his name appears among the members of the St. An- 
drew's Society of Charleston, the oldest organization of 
that name in America. In 1754 he resigned his pastorate 
on account of ill-health, to the general regret of the peo- 
ple of Charleston, irrespective of denominational differ- 
ences, and was presented with a valuable service of plate. 
He died tw^o years later. His son, Alexander, who was 
Ijorn at Edinburgh in 17 13, became famous as a physi- 
cian and botanist. In 1754 he was elected Professor of 
Uotany in Kings (Columbia) College, and maintained an 
extensive correspondence with European scientists, in- 
cluding Linnaeus, who named the genus Gardenia in his 
honor. When the Revolution broke out, Prof. Garden 
retained his loyalty, lost everything he possessed, and 
was glad to escape to England, where he died in 1791- 
As another evidence of how that war separated families 
we may state that Prof. Garden's son, Alexander, who 
was born at Charleston in 1757 and died in 1829, served 
in the Revolutionary Army as aide to Gen. Greene and 
as an officer in Lee's legion. For his services, his father's 
]:»roperty, or most of it, was given to him, and he was 
justly esteemed by his companions in the army. This 
warrior also inherited the literary tastes so noted in his 
family, and his w^ork entitled " Anecdotes of the Revolu- 
tion and Sketches of Its Characters " was very popular 
when first issued, and has seyeral times been reprinted. 



150 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

A stormy, turbulent, unsatisfactory career was that of 
George Keith, a Presbyterian, Quaker, and EpiscopaHan, 
by turns, who was born in Aberdeen in 1645. It is pos- 
sible that, he was a brother of the Rev. James Keith, a 
worthy Aberdonian, who settled at Boston about 1662, 
and from 1664 till his death in 17 19 was the honored 
minister of a Congregational church at Bridgewater, 
Mass.; but this is only a surmise, for Keiths were and 
are as plentiful around " the City of Bon-Accord " as 
blackberries on a hedge. George Keith was originally a 
Presbyterian, and was educated at Marischal College, 
Aberdeen, where he formed a strong friendship for a 
fellow-student, Gilbert Burnet, wlio afterward became 
famous as Bishop of Salisbury and as a historian. The 
two entertained the warmest regard for each other 
throughout their lives. After graduating, Keith left the 
Presbyterian fold and joined the Society of Friends. 
vShortly afterward he was induced by the leading Quakers 
in Aberdeen to emigrate to America, with the view not 
only of bettering his own temporal condition, but of 
helping to spread their doctrines in the New World. He 
arrived at New York in 1684, and for some four years 
was Surveyor in New Jersey. In 1689 ^''^ removed to 
Philadelphia, where he conducted a Friends' school, but 
that occupation was far too quiet and monotonous to 
suit his disposition, and he soon gave it up. He started 
to travel in New England, like a Quaker Don Quixote, 
to win people to the views of the Society, and he was at 
once engaged in a bitter series of controversies with 
Increase Mather, Cotton ]\Iather, and others. He did 
not by his journey add much to the numerical strength 
of his adopted people, and when he returned to Phila- 
delphia he even managed, without loss of time, to quar- 
rel with the Friends there. This quarrel seems to have 
been due to his own temper, to his sense of disappoint- 
ment, to his disposition to escape from the leveling ten- 
dencies of the teachings of the Society, and to some pe- 
culiar innovations he advocated, and which none of the 
brethren seemed disposed to listen to. Then he went 
to England, and laid his whole case before William 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 151 

Penn. but that leader denounced him as an apostate, 
and Keith was excommunicated from the Society, as 
completely as the gentle Quakers could excommunicate 
anybody. Then he founded a religious denomination of 
his own, which he called the Christian or Baptist Quak- 
ers, (popularly called the Keithians,) and in which he 
had a chance for ventilating some original views he 
held on the millennium and concerning the transmigra- 
tion of souls. The Keithians, however, did not hold 
long together, and in 1702 its founder was a full-fledged 
and enthusiastic minister of the Church of England. 
Here, probal:)ly because years had softened the natural 
contentiousness of his dispositon, or the Church itself 
allowed more latitude for individual views on various 
matters, he found peace. Nay, more, he found an op- 
portunity for repaying the Society of Friends for its 
rather summary treatment of him. He was sent as a 
missionary to Pennsylvania and New-Jersey, with the 
view of converting, or perverting, as many Quakers as 
possible, and used to boast that in that expedition some 
seven hundred Friends were by his instrumentality re- 
ceived into communion with the English Church. Soon 
after his return to England he was appointed Vicar of 
Edburton, in Essex, and in that beautiful parish his de- 
clining years were spent in tranquillity. Keith was a 
man of decidedly superior cast of intellect, an eloquent 
and attractive speaker and preacher, an able and ready 
conversationist, and, but for his choleric disposition, 
would have lived a life of more than ordinary useful- 
ness, and might even have attained to real power and 
eminence. He was a voluminous writer, and in the fifiy 
or so volumes (some in bulky quarto) or pamphlets 
which we know to have come from his pen, we can 
trace the current of his religious views through all their 
changes. He appears in them all to have been singu- 
larly honest, made no attempt to conceal or belittle his 
own changes, and even published retractions of his own 
]mblished writings. His later works were mainly taken 
up with what he regarded as the fallacies of Quakerism, 
and he attacked the Society of Friends from every point 



152 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

of view and with the utmost savagery and unrelenting- 
acerbity. 

It is rehef to turn from the waywardness of this tur- 
bulent character to the life of cjuiet consistency which is 
exemplified in the career of one of the most useful min- 
isters who ever occupied a New York pulpit, the Rev. 
Dr. Archibald Laidlie. He was a native of Kelso, and 
preached his first sermon in this city in 1764. He joined 
the St. Andrew's Society a year later, a sufficient evi- 
dence that he was not forgetful of his native land. Mr. 
Laidlie had previously been pastor for four years of the 
Scotch Church at Flushing, in Holland. The success 
of his ministry there induced the Dutch Reformed 
Church in New York to invite him to settle in that 
city, and it was notable that he was the first minister 
of that denomination in New York to preach in Eng- 
lish. He was a most successful preacher and a man of 
very considerable learning, and one of the works bv 
which he is still gratefully remembered is his translation, 
for use in his church, of the Heidelberg Catechism in 
1770 — the year that Princeton gave him the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity. When the time came for men to 
declare themselves in the Revolutionary struggle Dr. 
Laidlie held aloof, but had to retire from his charge, 
and he went to Red Hook, Long Island, where, in I779, 
he passed away at the comparatively early age of fifty- 
two years. 

It is seldom that we hear of a preacher who knows 
how to defend himself with his fists with the skill of a 
prizefighter, and the story of one is preserved in the 
history of the United Presbyterian Church at Oxford, 
Penn., one of the oldest associate congregations in 
America, and which still exists in a flourishing condi- 
tion. It was founded in 1753 by the Rev. Alexander 
Gellatlv, who, along with the Rev. Andrew Arnott, set- 
tled in America, from Scotland, in response to invita- 
tions from the Presbyterians in Lancaster and Chester 
Counties, Penn. In 1758 the Oxford church called an- 
other preacher from Scotland, the Rev. Matthew Hen- 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. ] 5^ 

derson, who had been trauied for the ministry in Glas- 
gow University. He was a good, earnest man, much 
beloved by his people, and had many eccentricities of 
manner. Several anecdotes concerning him are still re- 
b.ted at Oxford, some of which recall the stories told 
of many of the Old Country preachers in Scotland in 
the early part of the century. Among others, it is said, 
that once, noticing a young woman with a new calico 
gown moving frecjuently to various parts of the church, 
iie called out: "That is the fourth time, my lass, that 
you hae left your seat. You can sit doon now; we hae 
a' seen your braw new goun." As he was journeying 
over the mountains to meet with his brethren in the 
Presbytery he halted for the night at an inn. While 
resting in the conmion sitting room, two loafers, no- 
ticing that he was a minister, persisted in trying his 
patience by their roughness, and finally insisted on fight- 
ing. This caused his Scotch blood to " boil." Drawing 
of¥ his coat, he exclaimed: " Lie there, the Rev. Mr. 
Henderson, and, now, Matthew, defend yoursel'.'' He 
threw one of his tormentors through the window, the 
other ran away. 

In the annals of Presbyterianism in America no names 
are sweeter than those of the Masons — father and son— 
who for many years were the recognized leaders in 
that communion in the United States. The Rev. John 
Mason was born in Linlithgowshire in 1734- He was 
trained for the ministry in the Secession Church, and 
was an ardent believer, as were all his family, in the 
views held by the Anti-Burghers in Scotland. It is well 
to remember this in considering Dr. Mason's work in 
America, for the Anti-Burgher views are generally con- 
sidered to be the narrowest and most closely confined of 
any held by Presbyterian denominations. But from the 
time he settled in "New York, in 1761, shortly after he 
was ordained, and took charge of the Scotch Presbyter- 
ian Church, on Cedar Street, he was the apostle of liber- 
ality and toleration. He saw Presbyterianism not only 
divided, but the sections threatening to drift wider apart, 



1D4 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

and while he recognized the existence in Scotland of 
political and historical reasons which almost naturally 
created schism and embittered feeliniif, he saw no reason 
for there being' any divisions at all in the New World. 
With that idea, he labored with intensity and determina- 
tion, and his labors were, to a very considerable extent, 
crowned with success in 1782, when the Associate Re- 
formed Presbyterian Church was organized, and of its 
Assembly he was the first Moderator. In all the relig- 
ious and charitable movements of his time in New York, 
Dr. Mason was a leader. He was one of the prime mov- 
ers in the American Bible Society, and issued an ad- 
dress on its behalf which was circulated broadcast among 
the people. This movement he conceived to be one 
of the most notable ever inaugurated in the interest of 
C'hrislian union. Its platform and purpose were such 
that all Christians could unite upon, and, indeed, except 
for some objections from a few h4)iscopalian dignitaries 
and others, it was accepted in the spirit of union by all 
<lenominations, and has since done a mighty work. In 
charitable enterprises he was equally prominent, while 
as Chaplain of the St. Andrew's Society, from 1785 till 
his death, in 1792, he was brought into the closest con- 
tact with his countrymen, and aided largely in promoting 
the society's mission {o " Relieve the distressed." 

Dr. Mason's son, the Rev. John Mitchell Mason, who 
was born in New York in 1770, was in many ways the 
most representative and admired minister America has 
yet ])roduced. He graduated at Columbia College in 
1789, and tlien went to Edinburgh to C()m])lete his the- 
ological studies. He succeeded to the pastoral charge 
of his father's church on the latter's death, in 1792, and 
he succeeded his parent as Chaplain of the St. Andrew's 
Society, an office he held until 1821, when he left the 
city to become Principal of Dickinson College, Carlisle, 
Penn. He returned to New York in 1824 and resumed 
the active work of the ministry. As a preacher he was 
unrivaled in his dav, and it is said that when the famous 
Robert Hall heard him preach a discourse on " Mes- 



MINTSTIOIIS AND KlOr.lCrOUS TEAOHKltS. 155 

siah's Throne" ho said: "I can never preach ai^ain." 
Says one writer: " I lis as])eet was on a scale of grandenr 
corresponcHnt^- to the majesty of the mind witliin. Tall, 
robust, strai^lit, with a lu^ad modeled after neither Gre- 
cian nor Roman standards, \ et combininj^ the dignity of 
the one and the grace of tlie other; with an eye that 
shot lire, es])ecially when under the excitement of ear- 
nest pr(,\'icliing", yet lender and tearful when a i)a(hetic 
passag-e was reached; with a forehead broad and high, 
and a mouth expressive of decision, Dr. Mason stood 
])efore his audience a prince of ])ul])it orators." lie 
died in New ^'ork City in 1820. 

( )ld Dr. Mason (|uielly adopted the American side in 
the KevolutioTLary struggle, but, unlike Dr. Witherspoon, 
was regarded so nuich as ;ui unoffensive partisan that 
he retained the g-ood will of his friends in Scotland to 
the last. jA.s an offset to his example we may here re- 
call a clerg\'u:an who was an uncompromising' foe to the 
Revolutionr.ry niovenuul. That was the Rev. I lenrv 
Mu'.M-(), who was born at Inverness in 1730. Mis lirst 
acciuainlauce witli America was when he crossed the 
Atlantic as the Chaplain (Presbyterian) of the old Sev- 
enty-seventh Rcg'iment, (Montg'omerie's Ilig'hlanders.) 
Me was with that gallant body at h\)rt Duciucsne, Crown 
Point, and Ticonderog^a, and was not only present at the 
capture of Montreal in September, 1760, but preached 
a rousing; thaidxsgiving- sermon a day or two later on the 
side of Mount Ixoyal.'' As one reward for his campaig'ns 
he got a bounty of 2,000 acres of land in what is now 
Washington ("omity, in New ^'ork .State, but this land 
never added to his wealth, for the troul)les of the Revolu- 
tion interfered with its seltlenu'ut, and it was conlis- 
c.-ited as soon as the progress of events made confisca- 
tion possible. In \/()2 he settle<l at Princeton, and for 
some reason or another joined llie (luu'ch of England, 
and in 1765 was stationed as a missionary at Yonkers. 
Three years later he became rector of St. Peter's, at Al- 
bany, and was active in his missionary labors among' the 
Mohawk Indians, wdiose language he knew perfectly. 



156 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

When the war broke out he was unsparing- in his de- 
nunciations of the " rebels," and made hiniseh' so ob- 
noxious on that score that he had to escape to the Brit- 
ish hues. Then he made his way back to Scotland, 
where he died, at Edinburgh, in 1801, a broken-hearted 
old man whose life went out under a sense of having 
sufifered deep wrongs. He had married in 1766 a daugh- 
ter of Peter Jay, and the lady and her family were as 
enthusiastic in favor of the Revolution as Munro was 
opposed to it. She not only refused to accompany him, 
but retained with her their only son — Peter Jay Munro. 
Father and son never afterward saw each other. The 
lad was educated under the direction of his famous uncle, 
John Jay; accompanied that statesman to Spain as an 
attache of the American Embassy, and then studied law 
in the office of Aaron Burr. He rose in time to become 
one of the foremost members of the New York Bar, and 
served in the Constitutional Convention of 1821. Pie 
died at Mamaroneck in 1833. 

Few clergymen have led more stirring lives than did 
the Rev. William Smith, a man of broad culture, of in- 
tense energy, of more than ordinary ability, and a 
preacher of wonderful force. He was born at Aberdeen 
in 1727, and graduated from the university there. He 
beg-an life as a teacher, and came here in 1752 to take 
charge of the seminary in Philadelphia, out of which 
grew the University of Pennsylvania. In 1753 he went 
to England and received orders in the national Church 
there. On his return he was an active preacher as well 
as a successful teacher, and when, in 1759, he revisited 
England his merit and ability were so widely recognized 
that he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
the Universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, and Dublin. He 
threw himself heartily into the popular side in the Revo- 
lution, preached frequently to the troops, and did what- 
ever he could, consistent with his position, to favor the 
movement for independence. His very consistency 
raised up several enemies, and caused even a doubt to be 
cast on the sinceritv of his sentiments, but such doubts 



MINISTKRS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 157 

were utterly unfounded. In June, 1775, he preached a 
sermon in Philadelphia to Col. Cadwallader's battalion 
which created a sensation, so outspoken were its senti- 
ments, so clearly did he proclaim the righteousness of 
the cause of the dissidents. Even this sermon gave rise 
to criticism. The bane of his career was that his per- 
sonal character in many ways was not a lovable one. 
He had a sharp temper and a tongue that was often in- 
temperate in its expressions of personal dislike. Then 
the impetuosity of his disposition involved him in count- 
less arguments and impelled men who really ought to 
have been ranged among his friends to be ranked among 
his enemies. The sentiment against him was so bitter in 
some influential cjuarters for a time as to cause the charter 
of the college in Philadelphia, of which he was the head, 
to be suspended for ten years, and later to defeat the 
approval by the General Convocation of his Church of 
his election as Bishop of Maryland. But he continued 
I)reaching and teaching — mainly at Chesterton, Md., 
(where he established Washington College,) until the 
clouds rolled away, and his latter years in Philadelphia, 
where he died in 1803, were spent pleasantly and peace- 
fully. The blemish in Dr. Smith's career was his fond- 
ness for secular pursuits, notably for land speculation, a 
weakness that has never yet, so far as our experience 
goes, added much to the popularity of a clergyman. It 
may safely be said, however, that his business ventures 
never interfered with his duties as a teacher, a Principal 
of a seat of learning, or as a preacher of the Gospel. He 
w^as an incessant worker, a marvel of energy. In spite 
of his numerous avocations he devoted a great deal of 
time to his study, and was a voluminous writer on re- 
ligious and secular topics and a patient investigator of 
scientific matters. A nephew of this sturdy divine, Will- 
iam Smith — also an Aberdonian and a zealous upholder 
of the Revolutionary cause — was rector of Trinity 
Church, Newport, for seven years, having previously 
held rectorships at Stepney, Md., and Narragansett, R. 
I., and afterward, until his death, in 1821, at the age of 
sixty-seven years, v^as a preacher and teacher in New 



158 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

York. His pupils were mainly private ones, and as a 
classical instructor he was regarded as the foremost in 
the city. He was the author of several religious works, 
which seem now to be unobtainable — and forgotten. 

Having recalled two pro-Revolutionary ministers, the 
strict impartiality of this survey again impels us to con- 
sider two who were conspicuous in their own circles on 
the opposite side. The first of this pair was the Rev. Dr. 
Myles Cooper, a poet of no mean order, as well as a 
theologian and life-long student. The place of his birth 
is uncertain. He seems to have been educated at Ox- 
ford, and was a Fellow of Queen's College there. In 1763 
he was elected second President of King's College (now; 
Columbia College,) New York, and in the performance 
of all the duties pertaining to that office he was faithful 
and zealous and deservedly popular. He, however, took 
vip such a thoroughgoing loyal stand against the Ameri- 
cans in the troubles with the mother country that in 1775 
he was obliged to return to Britain. Dr. Cooper soon 
after his return was made rector of the Episcopal Church 
(now a Roman Catholic church) in the Cowgate of Ed- 
inburgh, and he continued in charge of that congrega- 
tion until his death in 1785. 

The Rev. Thomas Rankin w-as another refugee. He 
was born at Dunbar in 1738, and crossed to America 
as a missionary sent by John Wesley. Before that he 
had been preaching in various Methodist Episcopal cir- 
cuits, Sussex, Devonshire, and others, and was regard- 
ed as a successful evangelist and a most devoted worker 
in the promulgation of Scriptural truths. He was equally 
successful in his work in America until the outbreak of 
hostilities, when his intense loyalty made him turn his 
abilities to keeping the clergy of all denominations fast in 
their loyalty to George HI. He thought there was no 
use of preaching the Gospel to men who were arrayed in 
open opposition to law'ful authority. " God," he said, 
" would not revive His work in America until they sub- 
mitted to their rightful sovereign.'' Holding such views, 
his usefulness in the New World was at an end, and he 
returned to PIngland, spending his latter years in mis- 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. I59 

sionarv work in London. We may close our selection of 
Revolutionary era preachers by recalling- the name of 
the Rev. Alexander Hewat, who may be classed as an 
niofifensive partisan. He was born at Kelso in 1745, 
educated at the grammar school there, and became pas- 
tor of the Scotch Church at Charleston, S. C, in 1762. 
He remained in Charleston until it seemed certain that 
war was about to break out, when, unwilling to renounce 
his allegiance, he relinquished his charge and returned to 
the mother country. His interest in America did not, 
however, cease when he left it, for in 1779 he published 
in London a valuable and interesting " History of South 
Carolina and Charleston," his only published work of 
which we have knowledge excepting- a volume of ser- 
mons, which he published in 1803. Within a year after 
reaching America Mr. Hewat testified to his native pa- 
triotism by joining the Charleston St. Andrew's Society. 
That society in the early period of its career was watch- 
ful to add to its list of members all notable arrivals to 
the Scottish community, and among its pre-Revolution- 
ary members we find such names as those of Gov. James 
Wright of Georgia, Sir Alex Nesbit, Gov. Johnston of 
North Carolina, Sir James Home, Gov. James Grant of 
East Florida, and Gov. James Glen of South Carolina. 
1 he early records are full of military names, and in one 
year the resident members placed on the roll the names 
of the Earl of Eglinton and all the officers of Montgom- 
erie's Highlanders they appeared to have been acquaint^ 
ed with. 

Henceforth, in this chapter at all events, we deal with 
men of peace — men who were permitted to carry on their 
spiritual work without interference from the roll of drums 
or the agitations of political strife. The clergy who set- 
tled in America from Scotland after Washington and his 
compatriots placed the United States in the list of na- 
tions accepted the situation loyally. In fact, Scotsmen 
generally accept a change in such respects with equa- 
nimity — when it is made for them. Even in religious 
matters, what in Scotland would be deemed a momen- 
tous change is accepted by the Scot in foreign lands 



IgO THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

without scruple. We have known Scotsmen who at 
home would have turned pale at the thought of a harmo- 
nium in a kirk be quite satisfied with the assistance of 
an organ in a church in America, and can recall in- 
stances of many dour opponents of the use of anything 
in the worship of praise except the " Psalms of Dauvit '' 
who willingly saw spiritual beauty in many hymns by un- 
inspired writers after they had been a few weeks in the 
United States or Canada. 

The Rev. James Muir, Presbyterian minister at Alex- 
andria, Va., from 1789 till his death in 1820, deserves to 
be held in kindly remembrance for the able manner in 
which he handled in at least one published volume the 
heresies of Thomas Paine, the sceptic, when they were 
enjoying more influence than they do now, or than they 
ever deserved. Mr. Muir was born at Cumnock, Ayr- 
shire, in 1757, and had studied for the ministry at Glas- 
gow and Edinburgh. He had been pastor of the Scotch 
Church in London, and of a church in Bernnida for eight 
years, before settling in America in 1788. He was a man 
of wide views, tolerant of all opinions which he believed 
to be honestly held or uttered, and thoroughly orthodox 
in all he himself said or wrote, as may be seen by a pe- 
rusal of the volume of sermons he published in 1810. 
His son, Samuel, had a strange history. He was born in 
the District of Columbia in 1789, and in due time was 
sent to Edinburgh to study medicine. In 181 3 he was 
appointed a surgeon in the United States Army. That 
position he resigned in 1818, when he married the daugh- 
ter of the then chief of the Sac, or Fox, Indians. He 
settled among his wife's people, assumed their ways, and 
became regarded as one of their leaders. In 1828 he 
left the Indian settlements and earned his living again 
by practicing medicine at Galena, 111. In 1832, when 
there was an epidemic of cholera among die United 
States troops, he volunteered his services. His offer was 
accepted, and he saved many lives by his skill, but fell 
himself a victim to the disease within a few months.^ 

It is refreshing after dwelling so long among "the 
cloth" to turn to a lay preacher who did magnificent 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. IGl 

work for the Master in his day and generation and around 
whose name many fragrant memories yet linger. This 
was John Clark, better known as Father Clark, whose 
only educational training was that which he received in 
the school of his native parish of Petty, near Inverness. 
He was born there in 1758, and in early life is said to 
have been a sailor. In the course of one voyage he land- 
ed in America and concluded to associate his future with 
it. He settled for a time in South Carolina, where he 
taught in a backwoods log school, and then moved to 
Georgia, where he joined the Methodist Church and be- 
came a class leader. Desiring to revisit his native land, 
in 1787 he engaged to work his passage before the mast, 
and did so, but remained at home only a short time. Re- 
turning to America in 1789, he became an itinerant 
preacher in connection with the Methodist body, his 
travels being mainly throughout Georgia. He was a man 
of devout spirit, outspoken in his views and ready to de- 
nounce wrong wherever he found it, without regard to 
church affiliation, general policy, or self-interest. As 
might be expected, he was a bitter foe to slavery, and it 
is on record that he twice refused to accept his annual 
salary of $60 because the money was obtained through 
slave labor. Doctrinal differences at length led to his 
withdrawal from the Methodist Church, and he went to 
Illinois, where he taught school, preaching- as he got an 
opportunity, without owning allegiance to any denomi- 
nation. Then he joined the anti-slavery Baptist organi- 
zation known as the " Baptized Church of Christ, Friends 
of Humanity,'' and in connection with that body he re- 
sumed his work as a traveling evangelist. 

" Father Clark," as he was lovingly called, was inde- 
fatigable in his work of spreading a knowledge of the 
Gospel. His missionary wanderings led him far into the 
then unknown West and southward through Florida. 
We have a record of his having walked, when seventy 
years of age, over sixty miles to fulfill a preaching en- 
gagement, and one missionary journey of 1,200 miles 
was performed alone, partly on foot and partly with the 
aid of an old canoe. He died at St. Louis in 1833. In 



152 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his wanderings and devotion " Father Clark " was the 
best modern prototype of St. Andrew of whom we have 
knowledge. 

Few ministers have found it more difhcult to find a 
congenial denomination to cling to than did the Rev. 
Walter Balfour, who was born at St. Ninians in the year 
of American independence and died at Charlestovvn, 
Mass., in 1852. Early in life he became a protege of the 
sainted Robert Haldane, and was educated through that 
gentleman's instrumentality for the ministry. He was in- 
tended for a pulpit of the Church of Scotland, but shortly 
after crossing the Atlantic, in 1806, he associated himself 
with the Baptists. In that communion he remained, lat- 
terly much discontented, until 1823, when, after much 
thought and careful study into the tenets of every Chris- 
tian denomination, and with much mental misgiving, he 
af^liated wdth the Universalists, and there found that en- 
tire freedom from doctrinal restraint for which he had so 
long yearned. In that Church he reached the height of 
his popularity as a preacher, orator, and as an author. 
His work entitled " Essay on the Intermediate State of 
the Dead " was long considered a model of its kind for 
closeness of argument, delicacy of thought, and beauty of 
language. 

Along with the names of the Masons in the religious 
history of New York stand those of the McLeods in the 
regard and veneration of those who have studied it. The 
founder of the American family was Dr. Alexander Mc- 
Leod, who was born in the Island of Mull in 1774, and 
died in New York in 1833. He settled in America when 
young, and was trained for the ministry, graduating from 
Union College in 1798. For a short time he was pastor 
of a church at Wallkill, N. Y., but what may be termed 
his life connection was the pastorate of the First Re- 
formed Presbyterian Church in New York. During that 
long pastorate " Dr. INIcLeod's kirk " was a Scottish 
landmark in New York, and the fame of the preacher 
was carried all over the country by hosts of his country- 
men, who, after sojourning in the American metropolis 
for a time, departed for other sections of the continent. His 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. ^(53 

powers as a pulpit orator were of a high order, and his 
discourses were prepared with rare analytical skill. Every 
subject he touched was thoroughly discussed, and, while 
strictly orthodox, he exemplified by his pulpit ministra- 
tions that a man can be at once orthodox and original. 
As one of the Chaplains for many years of the St? An- 
drew's Society he kept in active touch with his country- 
men in New York of all classes, and was beloved by them 
all. After his death his son, the Rev. John Neil McLeod, 
succeeded to his pastorate. He was an able man, as his 
published sermons, like those of his father, still testify, 
and under his care the First Reformed Church continued 
to be a power in the religious life of New York. He was 
aCalvinist of the sternest school, and was throughout 
his long life bitterly opposed to secret societies of all 
sorts or to the singing in public worship of anvthing ex- 
cept the metrical version of the Psalms of Israel's sweet 
singer. He died in 1874. A brother of this worthy min- 
ister had rather a strange career. He broke away from 
the Presbyterian fold when a young man and entered the 
Episcopalian. Then, like so' manv others in such cir- 
cumstances, he went to the end of his tether— followed 
h-is changing views to their natural end— and became a 
Roman Catholic. For several years prior to his death, 
the result of a railroad accident near Cincinnati, in 1865,' 
he was Professor of Rhetoric in a Roman Catholic col- 
lege in Ohio. Xavier Donald McLeod was a man of 
marked abihty and scholarship. Among his published 
writings are a " Life of Mary, Queen of'^Scots," a " Life 
of Sir Walter Scott," and at least one volume of poetry. 
Another New York clergvman who was well known 
on both sides of the Atlantic was the Rev. Archibald 
Maclay, who was born at Killearn in 1778 and settled in 
New York in 1805. He had been a minister for a short 
time in Kirkcaldy before crossing the Atlantic, and on 
his arrival in New York he at once got charge of a small 
Presbyterian church in Rose street. In the course of a 
year or two his views on the subject of baptism so 
changed that he felt impelled to throw in his lot with the 
Baptist denomination, and in connection therewith he 



164 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

founded a church on Mulberry Street, (afterward in Sec- 
ond Avenue,) of which he continued to be pastor for 
nearly thirty years. In 1837 he retired from pastoral 
work and became agent of the American and Foreio^n 
Bible Society. In that capacity he traveled extensively 
through the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. 
In 1850 he was one of the organizers of the American 
Bible Union, and was elected its President. He was 
drawn to take the great interest he did in the dissemina- 
tion of the printed Scriptures because he realized that to 
be one of the quickest means in the pow'er of man for 
spreading into every nook and corner of the world a 
knowledge of the unspeakable riches of the Truth. He 
regarded every Bible, or portion of the Bible, as a mis- 
sionary ever ready to do effective work and enjoying a 
closeness of communion which no merely human teacher 
could hope to equal. At the same time Dr. Maclay was 
outspoken in arguing the desirability of a new transla- 
tion of the Scriptures, or the need, at least, of a revision 
of that which was given to the world under the patron- 
age of King James, " the Sapient and the Sext " of Scot- 
land. It was with this object in view that he helped to 
organize the Bible Translation Society of England. 
There is no doubt that he did good work in forming 
public opinion to the necessity of revision, and that it 
was due to him, as much as to any single individual, that 
the work was begun in 1870 — ten years after he had 
passed from his labors to his reward. 

Almost equally prominent during a long American ca- 
reer was the Rev. Dr. James Laurie of Washington. He 
was educated for the ministry in his native city of Edin- 
burgh and obtained his license as a preacher in 1800. 
Two years later he determined, on the invitation of Dr. 
J. M. Mason, to settle in America, and in 1803 he was 
installed as pastor of the Associate Reformed Church in 
Washington. At first he preached in, the old Treasury 
Building — a structure that was afterward burned by the 
British troops, in 1814. One of his first duties was to 
procure a decent church for his people. Tliis he accom- 
plished in 1807, after acting the part of a "big beggar 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 1(35 

man " in every quarter of the country where contribu- 
tions were hkely to be had. He preached and implored 
wherever he went, for it was a period when money was 
scarce and the " art of giving " was not understood as 
well as now. He continued to act as pastor of his church 
for forty-six years, and for a time held a position in the 
Treasury Department, closing a life of devotion to the 
cause to which he had devoted his pilgrimage, at Wash- 
ington, in 1853. Another of Dr. Maton's proteges was 
the Rev. R. Hamilton Bishop, a native of Edinburgh, 
who settled in America in 1801, and, after preaching for 
several years in New York, went West as a missionary 
and subsequently w'as connected, as teacher or Principal, 
with several Western colleges. He died at College Hill, 
Ohio, in 1865. 

Dr. William M. Taylor, who died at New York in 
1895, in the dignified position of a " pastor emeritus " of 
tlie church to which he gave the best years of his active 
life, was a worthy successor to the Masons and Mc- 
Leods, whose pulpits were so long lights to the Scottish 
dwellers in the commercial metropolis of the United 
States. Born at Kilmarnock in 1829 and educated for 
the ministry of the United Presbyterian Church, at Glas- 
gow and Edinburgh, William Mackergo Taylor was a 
painstaking and brilliant student. For two years, from 
June, 1853, he was minister of a church .at Kilmaurs, 
near his native town. In 1855 he went to Bootle, near 
Liverpool, and he remained there until 1872, when he 
accepted a call to the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, 
of which, after many years of faithful labor, he became 
pastor emeritus three years before his death. By his 
writings Dr. Taylor enjoyed the acquaintance of a wide 
circle of readers. His monograph on " John Knox " is 
the' best short life of the great Scotch Reformer which has 
yet been written — the best for those to read who have 
not the patience or the time to enjoy McCrie's classic 
work. His books on Bible biographies have been circu- 
lated- by the" thousand, and his published sernions have 
also had thousands of readers. In 1886 Dr. Taylor was 
the " Lyman Beecher Lecturer "' at Yale Theological 



166 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Seminary, and in connection with tliat appointment de- 
livered a series of lectures on " The Scottish Pulpit from 
the Reformation to the Present Day," which is virtually 
a sketch of the ecclesiastical history of his native land. 
By the terseness and lucidity of his style in these lectures 
Dr. Taylor controverted unconsciously the oft-repeated 
fallacy that men who are in the habit of preaching lose 
the power of condensing their thoughts and arguments. 
Faithful lives in the ministry, might be the words used 
in summing up the careers of such men as Dr. W. C. 
Brownlee, a native of Lanarkshire, who closed a long life 
of usefulness in New York in i860; of Andrew Stark, a 
Stirlingshire man, who was pastor of Grand Street Church, 
New York, for a few -years, and died in Scotland, as did 
one of his successors in that charge, the Rev. Dr. John 
Thomson ; of Robert Kirkwood, once of Paisley, who died 
at Yonkers in 1866, after holding pastorates at Court- 
landville and Auburn, N. Y., and after several years' ex- 
perience as a missionary in Illinois; of Dr. John Lillie, a 
Kelso man, who was one of the foremost ministers at 
Kmgston, N. Y., from 1836 till liis death in 1867, and 
gave many evidences of the possession of ripe scholar- 
ship, notably by his translations in connection with 
Lange's magnificent series of commentaries; of Dr. Peter 
D. Gorrie, who was carried across the Atlantic in 1820, 
when only three years old, from his native city of Glas- 
gow, and was a noted member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and died at Potsdam, N. Y.. in 1884: of Dr. 
J. Harkness of Jersey City, who was born in 1803 and 
died in 1878, whose birthplace was in Roxburghshire, and 
whose first charge was at Ecclefechan, where his son, 
William Harkness, the famous astronomer, was born in 
1836; of Dr. Duncan R. Campbell, long of Covington 
County, who was born in Perthshire in 1814 and was 
President of Georgetown College when he died, in 1861 ; 
of David Inglis, a native of Greenlaw, Berwickshire, who, 
after holding various minor pastorates, became, in 1871, 
a professor in Knox College, Toronto, and died in 1877, 
while pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church in T'rooklyn, 
and of hundreds of others — enough to make up a very 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. IQJ 

respectable dictionary of representative clerical biog- 
raphy. 

These men belonged to generations ^vhich have passed. 
What may be called our own generation is still adding 
to the list — adding, it may be said, in greater proportion 
than any previous one, so far as our records enable us to 
judge, in Canada the great majority of the Presbyterian 
divines are of Scotch birth or of immediate Scottish de- 
scent. In the States such men as the Rev. William Or- 
miston, now of California, provide us with names sufft- 
cient to show that Scotland still " leavens the lump." 

Latterly we have been dealing with preachers pure and 
simple; with ministers who by their own merits won posi- 
tions of pre-eminence for themselves in the world of the- 
ological thought, or by their eloquence made their pul- 
pits conspicuous " above the lave," or by their sainted 
lives left memories which are still among the precious 
heritages of their own churches and denominations. In 
thinking over the influence which Scotland has exerted 
over the history of religion in America we somehow 
overlook, however, the ecclesiastical dignitaries who' have 
adorned the Churches in which their lifework was done, 
or is being done. The bulk of Scotsmen are so accus- 
tomed to their Presbyterian, or Congregational form of 
Government, with the practical independence of each 
church and the equality in rank of all ministers, that 
they seldom contemplate Deans and Bishops, and an 
Archbishop seems to them a man who stands a long way 
off, so little does he enter into their calculations. Some- 
times they are told that the Moderator of a Presbytery 
is a sort of Bishop, and that the Moderator of a General 
Assembly is virtually an Archbishop. But the men who 
have held such positions seldom, if ever, think so them- 
selves; and if they did they would soon be dispossessed 
of such thoughts. Beside, they hold such offices only 
for a brief period and by the votes of their brethren, and 
after a short interval lay down their honors and fall into 
line once more with the rank and file unless — as is often 
the case — their own ability wins for them continued 
prominence and influence. There never was a purer form 



168 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

of democracy conceived by man than that which pre- 
vails in the Government of the Kirk. 

But Scotland can point to a long- array of Bishops — • 
good, bad, and indifferent — and the race in America has 
had its influence on the Episcopal throne as well as in 
the halls of Assembly and of Congress. The Scottish- 
American Bishops, however, were— or are— all good men 
and true, and however we may differ from their views or 
standpoints, we cannot withhold from them that com- 
mendation which the sanctity of their lives, the devo- 
tion of their purposes, and their high abilities imperative- 
ly demand. 

In the annals of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the United States few memories are more precious than 
that of Bishop James Kemp of Maryland. He was born 
in the Parish of Keith-Hall, Aberdeenshire, in 1764, and 
educated for the Presbyterian ministry at Marischal Col- 
lege, Aberdeen. In 1787 he crossed the Atlantic, and 
for two years was employed as tutor in a family in Dor- 
chester County, Maryland. During these two years his 
views on Presbyterianism underw^ent a change and he 
was led to study the tenets of the Church of England, 
and finally to fully and loyally accept them. He devoted 
all his spare time to the study of theology, and in 1789 
was ordained a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
In the following year he was appointed rector of Great 
Choptank Parish in Maryland. There he remained, 
faithfully fulfilling his pastoral duties and steadily adding 
to his store of learning, until, in 1813, he was elected 
rector of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore. By tliat time he 
was recognized as the most profound theologian in the 
diocese, and his ability as a preacher, his able executive 
qualities, and the native kindliness of his disposition, had 
won him hosts of friends. In these circumstances, when 
it became necessary, in 1814, to appoint a suffragan 
Bishop to aid Bishop Claggett, there was little opposition 
to the selection of Dr. Kemp, and he was duly conse- 
crated. Two years later he succeeded, on the death of 
Dr. Claggett, to the full honors of the Bishopric, and oc- 
cupied that position, as well as the office of Provost of 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 1(59 

the L'niversity of Maryland, till ]iis death, in 1827, at 
Baltimore. 

Bishop Kemp published during his lifetime several of 
his sermons on special occasions and a number of con- 
troversial tracts, but such specialties are by no means 
contributions to literature, and have, naturally, been 
long forgotten. Not so, however, the example of his 
life, his devotion to duty, and the manner in which he 
administered and discharged every trust confided to him. 

The Episcopal Chtirch in the Dominion gives us sev- 
eral examples of noted Scotch Bishops, for the Scot in 
Canada flourishes and forces his way to the front under 
all sorts of conditions. One of the earliest of these dig- 
nitaries was Charles J. Stewart, Bishop of Quebec. He 
was the fifth son of John, seventh Earl of Galloway, and 
was born at Galloway House, Wigtownshire, in 1775. 
He was educated at Oxford. Having selected the min- 
istry for his lifework, his studies were directed toward 
that end, and in 1800 he was ordained a priest. His first 
charge was a small parish near Peterborough, England, 
where he remained eight years. Then, desiring to engage 
in mission work, he applied to the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel and was assigned to the mission of 
St. Armand, P. O. There he built a church at his own 
expense; but his district was a wide one, and he was 
equally ready to preach the Gospel in a parlor, a barn, 
or a room in a village inn, as in the sacred edifice he had 
had constructed. In 1819 he became visiting missionary 
in the Diocese of Quebec, virtually embracing the whole 
of Canada, and the story of his journeys in the discharge 
of his duties, involving discomfort, danger, fatigue, and 
discouragements, would furnish themes for niany ro- 
mances. Bishop Mountain of Quebec died in 1825, and 
the faithful missionary was nominated to the see. He was 
consecrated in Lambeth Palace, London, and at once 
entered on his duties. These he performed with rare 
fidelity till his death, in 1837. ' He was," wrote Mr. H. 
J. Morgan, " a most zealous servant and soldier of Christ, 
a noble, disinterested being, endowed with rich qualities 
of heart and mind, and a mouth that spoke no guile." 



170 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Bishop Strachan of Toronto will long be remembered 
in Canada as having virtually ruled the Church of Eng- 
land there during many years of his life, and for having 
ruled it well. He was born at Aberdeen in 1778, grad- 
uated at King's College in that city, and afterward stud- 
ied theology at St. Andrews. After a brief experience as 
a teacher in Scotland he emigrated to Canada in 1799, 
and taught school at Kingston, Ontario, for some three 
years. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1803, and 
opened a school at Cornwall, where he remained until, 
in 1 81 2, he became rector of York (Toronto.) Here he 
commenced his career as a statesman as well as a pastor. 
He was nominated an Executive Councillor, took his 
seat in the Legislative Council, and continued to show 
an active and direct interest in politics until the end of 
his career. In 1825 he was appointed Archdeacon of York, 
and in 1839 reached the highest of his ecclesiastical hon- 
ors when he was nominated Bishop of Toronto. Few 
men possessed more influence in Canada than this noted 
prelate. He established some fifty-seven rectories in 
Ontraio, and to his efiforts was due the foundation of 
Trinity College, Toronto. The cause of education was 
possibly dearer to his heart than any other earthly 
agency, and as a successful teacher himself he knew how 
to appreciate success in others. Quite a large number 
of eminent men sat under him as pupils. In Scotland 
during the few years he taught there he had among his 
boys David Wilkie, afterward the famous painter, and 
Capt. Robert Barclay of Lake Erie fame. In Canada Sir 
John Beverley Robinson, Chief Justice Sir James B. Ma- 
caulay, and the Hon. Judge Jones attended his classes. 
The friendship of these men and scores like them he re- 
tained until death dissolved mere earthly ties, and Sir 
David Wilkie often asserted that to Bishop Strachan he 
ovvcd everything. The good Bishop died at Toronto in 
1867. To the end he preserved the Aberdeen dialect in 
all its freshness, and a stranger, hearing his accent, might 
have been excused for thinking he was listening- to one 
who was fresh from the " City of Bon Accord." " Bishop 
Strachan," writes one who knew him, " when he came to 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. IJ] 

Canada, taught school in Cornwall, and educated some 
of the best men we have ever had in Canada. There are 
few of them left, I am sorry to say. What was curious 
about the old Bishop was, he never lost the Aberdeen ac- 
cent, although he thought he had. I have heard him 
l)reach. In pronouncing the benediction he always said: 
' The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
keep your herts.' Many years ago he had a clergy- 
man come from Aberdeen. He asked him: ' Far dae 
ye come fae?' The minister said: ' Fae Eberdeen.' 
After asking some more questions the Bishop insisted 
on the clergyman getting clear of his Scotch accent, 
adding: ' I had some trouble in getting clear of it, but 
I have none of it now '; yet all this was said in the broad- 
est ' Eberdeen ' dialect." 

Turning to the Roman Catholic Church, we find the 
Scot flourishing there as elsewhere. In the Lower Prov- 
inces few names are held in more kindly remembrance 
than Bishop Angus McEachern of Charlottetown, Bishop 
Ronald McDonald of Pictou, or Bishop William Frascr 
of Antigonish, Vicar Apostolic of Nova Scotia in 1821. 
The latter deserves to be honored by Scotsmen, for he 
certainly sufifered much for " puir auld Scotland's sake." 
In fact, it was complained of him at Rome that he de- 
voted himself exclusively to the Scotch members of his 
tlock, for a long time hardly recognizing any others, and 
iinally rarely journeyed outside of the Scotch settlement 
at Antigonish. He seemed to have a special aversion to 
Irish Roman Catholics. 

In point of devotion to duty, liberality of views, and 
earnestness of purpose, no fault could be found with 
Bishop Alexander MacDonell, who was born at Glen 
Urquhart, near the shore of Loch Ness, in 1769, and is 
said to have belonged to the family of Glengarry. Long 
Ijefore he was consecrated Roman Catholic Bishop of 
Kingston, at Montreal in 1826, he had done rare service 
to Canada by inducing Highlanders to settle in its wild 
lands, and he had seen active service in Ireland as Chap- 
lain in a regiment of Catholics. In fact, his services y:c':2 
such that he v.as publicly tlianked Ijy the Prince Regent. 



172 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

He was a thoroughly patriotic Scotsman, and one of his 
earhest undertakings was the formation of a Highland 
Society in Ontario, of which he became President, and 
which was designed to be of real use to settlers and 
intending settlers. He built no fewer than forty-eight 
churches and established missions at every point. He had 
a profound faith in the wonderful future of Canada, and 
believed in building the foundations of the Church he 
served so loyally on a scale worthy of that future. Per- 
sonally he was a kindly man, who made friends wherever 
he went, and his death, in 1840, while revisiting his native 
land, was regretted by all classes in the community. 

" Bishop MacDonell," once wrote a correspondent to 
a Canadian newspaper, " was a very kind-hearted man. 
He was a great means of settling the part of Canada 
called Glengarry. Some of them were more than ordi- 
nary big, strong men, and the present generation of them 
are worthy of their sires. I never heard that he was 
particular to have them all Roman Catholics. There are 
a number of Presbyterians amongst th.em, and they have 
a good congregation in Alexandria. The good Bishop 
gave all the first Roman Catholic settlers in Glengarry 
a copy of the Holy Bible, which the Presbyterian clergy- 
man told me they would not part with for any money. 

" I have been told many good stories about the Bishop 
by an old French friend. I will only mention one. In 
the early settlement of the County of Kent the roads 
were very bad and there were very few places to stop at. 
The Bishop was exploring through the county on horse- 
back, and, being benighted, he had to ask a farmer for 
lodgings for the night. After getting supper, and time 
to go to bed, the farmer said he would show him his bed. 
The Bishop said: ' Are you a Scotchman and don't take 
the " Book " before going to bed? ' The Scotchman was 
ashamed to confess that he did not. The Bishop took 
the Bible and read and prayed with and for the family. 
The farmer was astonished when the Bishop told him 
who he was." 

Bishop Gilmour of Cleveland, Ohio, who died in Flor- 
ida in 1 891, was born in Glasgow in 1824, and moved 



MINISTERS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 173 

in carlv life, with his parents, to New Glasgow. He was 
educated in Canada. After many years spent in mission- 
ary work he was assigned to the pastorate of St. Patrick's 
in Cincinnati in 1857, and was consecrated Bishop of 
Cleveland in 1872. His administration of the diocese 
was most successful, and was particularly noted for the 
manner in which it developed the system of parochial 
schools. 

A Catholic prelate need not be a Bishop, and the Very 
Rev. Monsignor Seton of St. Joseph's, Jersey City, is a 
case in point. Descended from the ancient noble fam- 
ily of Winton, Dr. Scton's ancestors came to America be- 
fore the Revolution, carrying with them many historical 
relics of the family to which they were proud to belong 
in spite of its misfortunes. One of these American set- 
tlers, William Seton, (of whom Dr. Seton is the great- 
grandson,) was from 1766 to 1771 an officer in the New 
York St; Andrew's Society, and to the present day the 
members of the family are proud to recall the fact that 
their forbears hailed from " dear old Scotland." 




CHAPTER VI. 

ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 

PAINTINGS from Scotland by Scottish artists do not 
seem nowadays to find much acceptance in America. 
They are rarely found in the catalogues of the many art 
sales in New York or Boston or the other large cities, 
and in the art dealers' establishments the best-known 
painters of Scotland are vmknown either by name or by 
example. In art circles, in periodicals devoted to art, 
and in the columns of newspapers which make a feature 
of artistic matters, hardly any attention is paid to collect- 
ing" and presenting news from the Scottish studios, and 
even the gossip of American professional critics seldom 
troubles itself concerning what may be passing in Scot- 
land, where so many recognized masters have gained 
their reputation and established a national claim to ar- 
tistic recognition. The amateur lovers and professional 
creators of art in America talk glibly of Chalon, of Pal- 
maroli, of Garnier, of Gerome, but of Thomson, Phillip, 
Macnee, MacCullough, Allan, Faed, or any of the recog- 
nized Scottish masters they seem to know nothing. 

This is singular when we consider that so many other 
professional, as well as business and working, men from 
Scotland, and Scottish products generally, find such a 
kindly reception in America. The Scottish artisan is al- 
ways welcomed in every section of the United States as 
a superior, thorough, and industrious workman, one 
with a degree of intelligence above his fellows; the Scot- 
tish farmer is hailed as an accession in each agricultural 
community, and it is safe to say that there is not an 
American steamer afloat on which the services of Scotch 
engineers are not in use or in demand. In the higher 
174 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 175 

walks of life the influence of Scotland is everywhere 
seen. Scottish architecture has been closely studied, 
and the old Baronial style has been copied, adapted, or 
" applied " to the majority of American modern villas, 
ancl, in fact, along with the so-called Colonial style, was 
the main foundation for the exteriors of such places un- 
til recently supplanted by the nondescript " Queen 
Anne " and pseudo-Elizabethan styles. Even in many 
public buildings, although a sort of mongrel renaissance 
is the prevailing fad, the towers and peaks and gables o£ 
the Scottish school take the place of the " Grecian " front 
elevations, W'ith their wooden pillars and impossible pedi- 
ments. Scotch financiers stand above the tumults, the 
reactions, the bull-and-bear movements of the stock ex- 
changes, veritable pillars of strength in a seething, some- 
times repulsive, sea of dishonesty and dishonor. Scottish 
theology has been gratefully accepted by Americans, 
and not even in Scotland have the writings of such men 
as Prof. A. C. Bruce, Dr. Calderwood, the late Dr. John 
Ker, Dr. Oswald Dykes, and Dr. Buchanan more ap- 
preciative readers. Scottish poetry, too, is also in great 
vogue; Robert Buchanan, for instance, used to be a 
favorite; several editions of " Olrig Grange" were read- 
ily disposed of Avhen that poem first appeared; Shairp's 
verses also found a ready sale, and even Pollok's 
" Course of Time " has been printed in a dozen different 
forms. There are a half a dozen editions of Aytoun's 
" Lays," and there are numerous editions of Motherwell, 
Montgomery, Campbell, and most of ovir poets, printed 
and sold in this country. Scots songs are sung on every 
concert platform, and students of Burns are as numer- 
ous as in Scotland. Indeed, probably the most ambi- 
tious edition of the works of the Ayrshire bard — six large 
volumes with notes, steel engravings, and all sorts of ed- 
itorial paraphernalia — was published in Philadelphia only 
a few years ago. Of the Waverley Novels there are over 
twenty-five distinct editions in the market, and editions 
of Scott's poetry seem to grace, either completely or sin- 
gly, every publisher's catalogue. One firm has printed 
over 300,000 copies of Barrie's works, and there is a 



176 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

choice of various editions of any of the writings of Ste- 
venson or Black. Excepting- art, everything Scotch, 
from curling to philosophy, seems to find congenial soil 
in America. 

This lack of appreciation of Scottish art applies as 
much to loan exhibitions and museums and public galler- 
ies, of which iDctter things might be expected, as to private 
collections and the dealers' offerings or stock in trade. In 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at New York, the 
greatest institution of its kind in America, not a single 
work painted in Scotland by a Scottish artist is to be 
found. Even in the large and costly collection of Miss 
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, which by terms of its be- 
quest to the museum is kept distinct from the other pict- 
ures, and which is undoubtedly the crowning artistic 
feature of the institution, the absence of Scottish art is 
equally apparent. 

In the Lenox Library of New York, founded by a 
Scotsman and still mainly directed by a Scotsman, we 
find a somewhat similar condition of afifairs. True, the 
collection there is not large, but every picture on view 
is supposed to be a representative one, and ought to be, 
if placed on exhibition in accordance with the ideas on 
which the library was founded. In such a collection we 
would naturally expect to find some Scotch examples, 
yet, instead, we have some rather paltry sketches by Sir 
David Wilkie, of no interest to the public and of little 
value even to art students, certainly not representative of 
the man; a painting of the Scottish regalia which is at- 
tributed to Wilkie, but with which he had no more to 
do than the man in the moon, and a couple of specimens 
(one of them doubtful) of Sir Henry Raeburn. These 
things, with a very conuuonplace bust of Scott from 
Steell's studio, but not his handiwork, and a really good 
bust of Dr. Chalmers, evidently modeled by Steell him- 
self, are all that represent Scottish art in what might be 
or ought to be the great repository of that art in Amer- 
ica. What has been said of these institutions may be 
held to apply to all the other art centres in the country. 
Even at the ChicasfO World's Fair Scottish artists were 



> ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 177 

poorly represented. There were several Scotch canvases 
in the British section, but not one that really command- 
ed attention. So far as art was concerned, Poland far 
outstripped Scotland in excellence, varietv, and in the 
evident genius of the artists. 

Scottish sculpture is no more hig-hly regarded than 
the sister art of painting. Not long ago a replica of Ste- 
venson's fine statue of Sir William Wallace, which is on 
the corbel over the entrance to the hero's monument on 
Abbey Craig, near Stirling, was unveiled in Baltimore, 
and the pose of the figure is laughed at in every circle 
that makes any pretention to art culture. The pose, 
they say, is theatrical, the drawn sword is too prominent 
a feature, the figure itself is stifif, there is nothing below 
the armor, and so on. Of course people who know 
why the figure and sword were posed as they are and 
the latter made so prominent will admit that the artist 
made the most of his original opportunity for a particu- 
lar effect. But Americans do not know this, and so 
they criticise the figure as they find it — standing on an 
ordinary pedestal in the midst of a park landscape — 
and find much to sneer at and condemn. If they had said 
the pose was simply unsuited to the location in which the 
replica is placed, every one would have agreed with them, 
and an additional argument against the use of replicas 
would have been added to the stock on hand. But when 
they fail to take the change of position into account 
and simply condemn on general principles their criti- 
cism is not worth considering from an artistic standpoint, 
although, commercially, it is to be regretted. Sir John 
Steell is represented in America by two statues in Cen- 
tral Park, New York, one a replica in bronze of the 
figure of Scott, which, in marble, sits under the arch of 
the monument at Edinburgh, and the other his figure 
of Burns, of which there are replicas in Dundee and 
London. Those who know anything of the inside work- 
ings of Steell's studio while the Burns statue was in 
process of development will not be anxious, however 
patriotic they may be, to claim that statue as one of even 
his second-rate works, for it must be confessed that, while 



178 'I'll 10 Kr;oT tn AMMRinA. 

ill parts it shows tlic ci^cnius of the sculptor, it certainly 
is, as a whole, disappoiiitiiiy;. I lis statue of wScott, how- 
ever, has lonj4' since passed the gauntlet of criticism, and 
l)ccn accepted as a niaster])iece, in spite of the clunisi- 
luss of ilic plaid an<l the stiff niassiveness of the whole 
liL;nrf. ^'ci in Xcw \'ork there is a sort of trades union 
society of local sculptors, wliicli o])enly advocates the re- 
moval of both these riy;-ures to a less iirominent place, 
and wDuld n<il mourn were they stolen from their pe- 
destals some nig'ht and broken up beyond hope of re- 
pair. One guide book, describing' these statues says: 
" They are coarsely modeled b\ a man with a local fame 
in Scotland, but no artist." This criticism, it must be 
remembered, was written in a city which contains more 
atroci(nis exam])les of the sculptor's art than any other 
in the world, such caricatures as the bronze figures of S. 
.S. Cox, Roscoe Conkling, Horace (Ireeley, VV. K. Dodge, 
and Secretary Seward, which st'ek honor and recognition 
in the most i)rominent tlioroughfares. I'eside any of 
them Steell's \vor]<, e\cii his i)oorest, rises as the mod- 
eling of a master. 

The trouble, howevei". does not V\r now, nor has it ever 
lain, with any prejudice on the part of the ])eo])le against 
either Scottish art or artists as such. It is rather the re- 
sult of a fashionable current directing the public taste 
low ;n(l ( '( uUinenlal schools and a lack of enter])rise on the 
part of the artists in Scotland themselves in not catering 
to the wants and whims or tastes of the peo])le. Scottish 
artists residing in America have, from the very beginning 
of its history, really attained as much honor and success 
as their countrvmen have won in other walks of life. 
The n:nnes wliich follow will abundintlv demonstrate the 
truth of this asst'rtion. 

So far as we have been able to disv-over, the first Scotch 
l)ainter to make his home in America was |ohn Smibert, 
who was born in the Grassmarket of Edinbitrgh in 1684. 
I le served an api)renticeship as a house painter, but his 
artistic ambition led him to aspire higher, and he went 
to London, where, after a time, he made a comfortable 
living by copying paintings for dealers. Then, after he 



AUTISTK AND ARfM I IT RC'I'S. ] 79 

had saved a little money, lie went to Italy, where he 
studied hard, C()])ie<l many o[ the most famous works of 
the old masters, and made many friends, anionj;' them 
Dr. Berkeley, afterward iiishoj) of Clo\ne. In 1728 he 
erossed to Ameriea in the eompany of that <livine, with 
the idea of heoomiuL;' pi'ofessor (jf drawing;', (!ve., in a 
university whieh it was ])ro])osed to f(jund at, r>crnuida. 
While the negotiations regarding that seat of learning 
were in progress, Smibert took U]i his residence at Ncw- 
])()rt. \Vhen the university scheme was abandoned the 
artist settled in I'oston, where he ac(|uired not oidv repu- 
tation, but a comfortable fcjrtune by liis ait. Ilorace 
Wali)ole, in his " Anecdotes of Painting," describes him 
as " a silent and modest man, who abh(*rred the finesse of 
some of his profession." A number of his ])aintings aJ'c 
still to be seen in \:\\v University, in the IJoston IVluseuni 
of Fine Arts, and in the houses of many old New Itug- 
land families. Me married a lady belonging to a well- 
known I'.oston familw and had two children. ( )ne of 
them, Nathaniel, gave ])r(jmise of attaining celebrity as 
an artist, but he died at an early age. Snu'bert di(Hl in 

1751- 

Smibert excelled as a portrait painter. America had not 
in his time got as far advam-cd in a love of art to affect 
to adnu're efforts that were not to a certain degree utili- 
tarian, useful, and ])roductive of dignity, as well as l)eing 
ornamental. Ilu' most famous, ])erha])s, of American 
])ortrait ])ainlers was ( lilbert ( hrirlvs Stuart, wlio was 
descended from a Scotch family and was born in Rhode 
Isknnd in 1750. He went to Scotland when a lad and 
studied painting there, but when his teacher died he re- 
turned to America and made his living by ])ainting ])or- 
traits at Newport. In 177S lu' crossed over to London 
and attracted the attention of I'.enjamin West, the great- 
est of all American artists, and from that time he was 
able to date his success in life. Mis own studio in ] a)U- 
don, which he o])ened in i7<Si, was a fasliionable resort, 
and he painted portraits of King (ieorge 111., the I'rince 
of Wales, ((Ieorge IV.,) and many of the most celebr.-itecl 
characters of the time. He also painted, in I'aris, a 



180 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

portrait of Louis XVI., the unfortunate sovereign 
on whom the wrongs and misgovernment of a race 
of Kings were avenged at the French Revolution. 
Stuart settled down in his native country in 1793 and 
painted many of its most distinguished sons. His por- 
traits of Washington are generally accepted as the best 
which have been made of that great and good man, and 
b}^ them Stuart's name has been kept prominently before 
the people of the United States. He died at Boston in 
1828. 

James Smillie, who may be regarded as the American 
founder of an artistic family, landed at Quebec in 1821. 
His father and elder brother, who were with him, were 
jewelers, and they at once went into business in that 
quaint, historic town. James did the engraving and 
chasing for the establishment. His abilities won the 
notice of Lord Dalhousie, then Governor General of 
Canada, and that nobleman sent him to London to 
study. Smillie failed to get the sort of instructor he 
wanted, and he returned to his native city of Edinburgh, 
worked there for five months, and then rejoined his rela- 
tives in Quebec. In 1829 he settled in New York and 
established himself as a line engraver. An engraving 
after Weir's picture of " The Convent Gate " brought 
him into favorable notice, and he soon had all the work 
on hand he could accomplish. In 1830 he became an as- 
sociate of the National Academy, and an Academician in 
1 85 1. Among his most successful engravings are " Mount 
Washington," after Kennett ; " Dover Plains," after Du- 
rand, and " The Rocky Mountains," after Bierstadt. Mr. 
Smillie in his latter years lived in retirement at Pough- 
keepsie, where he died in 1884. There is no doubt he 
was the most successful line engraver of his time in 
America, and one of his brothers, William Gumming 
Smillie, was long equally recognized as a leader among 
the bank-note engravers of this country and Canada. 

Of Mr. Smillie's sons, two have carried on to the 
present day the reputation he so deservedly won for the 
family name. James D. Smillie, who was born in New 
York in 1835, made his mark by hi? engravings of Dar- 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. lyl 

ley's illustrations to Cooper's novels. He became a Na- 
tional Academician in 1876. Besides being noted as an 
engraver, J. D. Smillie has won much success as a painter 
in oil and water colors, and such works as " The Cliffs 
of Normandy," in oil, and " The Passing Herd," in water 
color, have given him a place among the most praise- 
worthy artists of the country. He was President of the 
Water Color Society in 1873 and 1878. Mr. Smillie has 
also shown exquisite skill as an etcher, and the best- 
known specimen of his work in that method is the etch- 
ing of the magnificent statue of Robert Burns at Al- 
bany, the work of his friend, Charles Calverley. His 
brother William M. was eminent as a letter engraver, 
and was General Alanager of the American Bank Note 
Company when he died, in 1884. The third son of James 
Smillie, George Henry Smillie, is a National Academi- 
cian and a master of oil and water color, and such works 
as " A Florida Lagoon," " A Lake in the Woods," and 
" Under the Pines of the Yosemite " show that he has 
inherited a full share of the wonderful talent of the 
family. 

Among landscape artists in America none have been 
accorded a higher position by critics and the public alike 
than William Hart, who died at Mount \'ernon June 17, 
1894, in his seventy-second year. When a boy his par- 
ents removed from Kilmarnock, and, crossing the At- 
lantic, settled at Albany, where William, after a brief 
schooling, was apprenticed to a coachbuilder. He was 
tlien instructed in the art of decorating carriage panels, 
and that employment awakened his artistic tastes. A 
severe illness made him leave the coachmaker's employ- 
ment when seventeen years of age, and on recovering he 
opened a stuflio at Troy, where he did both portrait and 
landscape work, and by dint of patient devotion to his 
sul:)jects not only earned a livelihood, but steadily added 
to his knowledge of his art. A visit to Scotland com- 
pleted his artistic education and training, and after three 
years' sketching there he returned, in 1853, to America 
with several portfolios filled with drawings and " bits," 
and suggestions for future works. He opened a studio 



182 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

in New York, and in 1855 was elected an Associate of 
the National Academy. Three years later he was chosen 
an Academician. His works betokened careful, thought- 
ful, and conscientious work, and in country scenes intro- 
ducing- animal life he particularly excelled. There was 
nothing outre in his methods; no straining after mere 
color efTects, no desire to startle by following the dic- 
tates of some of the new schools, which, now and again, 
in his time, as to the present day, strive to capture pub- 
lic attention by some royal road to excellence, which ends 
'a bathos — the Pre-Raphaelite, for instance. Hart's ex- 
cellence was the result of a careful desire to reproduce 
nature and show on his canvases every little detail, 
which, taken together, make up completeness. Among 
his most noted works, all of which exemphfy his tech- 
nique, his devotion to the highest principles of art and 
his mastery of that art, are: "Coming From the Mill," 
" The September Snow," " Autumn in the Woods of 
Maine," " Scene on the Peabody River," " Twilight on 
the Brook," "Goshen, N. H."; "Twilight," 'A Brook 
"itudy," " Easter Sky at Sunset," water color; " The Gold- 
en Hour," " Morning in the Clouds," " Keene Valley," 
" Cattle Scenes," " Landscape with Jersey Cattle," " The 
Ford," " Scene on Napanock Creek," " A Modern Cin- 
derella," and " After a Shower." 

Mr. Hart was equally great in the use of water color 
as of oil. Indeed, the former, perhaps, was his favorite 
mode of artistic expression, and his love for it led him to 
take an active part in the formation of the American So- 
ciety of Water Colorists, of which he was President for 
three terms, 1870-73. For many years also he was Pres- 
ident of the Brooklyn Academy of Design. 

A brother of this noted painter, James McDougall 
Hart, has gained equal fame in the annals of American 
art. Born at Kilmarnock in 1828, he, like his brother, 
crossed the Atlantic in boyhood and began life in the 
service of a coachbuilder at Albany. In 1851 he went 
to Dusseldorf Pind studied art, and on his return settled 
in Albany, wlicre he opened a studio. After about four 
years' struggle in that good old phlegmatic Dutch town. 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 183 

he thou.q'ht his opportunity for the future lay in New 
York, and there he removed, and soon won a prominent 
place among- local artists. His pastoral scenes, especially, 
won him popularity, and as a landscape painter none of 
his contemporaries excelled him for his faithfulness to 
nature and the poetic glamour he threw into most of his 
work. Like his brother, he never tried any of the tricks 
which so many artists attempt to win attention, and it 
is noted that one can study any of the productions of 
this painter's easel and find the attractiveness of the sub- 
ject grownig as a result of ':hat study. Such is notably 
the case with his " Summer Memory of Berkshire " 
and his " Indian Summer," both of which won deserved 
applause when exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1878. They 
are poems as well as pictures, and arouse many pleasing 
thoughts in the mind of the spectator who has any 
power of thought at all. So, too, with the masterpiece 
which he exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 — ■ 
" A Misty Morning " — a work which stood out in bold 
relief among the contributions of American artists to the 
collection there displayed for its wonderful interpretation 
of one of nature's moods. Some afTect to find little to 
[)raise or enlarge upon in such works as that of Mr. Hart, 
because they are so true to nature that they awaken noth- 
ing- discordant in the mind or present anything particular- 
ly odd to attract the eye. Their very fidelity is apt to make 
them be overlooked in an exhibition, while a flaring can- 
vas, with an unearthly green foreground, a wooden-like 
figure in a glaring yellow gown, and a sky with a series 
of streaks of all the colors on the palette, would attract 
a gaping crowd and charm the dilletantes and the news- 
paper art critics, the latter mainly because it would give 
them a chance to display their stock of artistic slang. 
Such paintings as that of " Cattle Going Home " are not 
enthusiastically praised for the same reason that the 
Scotch sewing woman saw nothing to admire in Burns's 
poem, " The Cotter's Saturday Night," because it told 
just what she saw done every night in her own father's 
house since ever she could remember. So long as Scot- 
tish art in America is represented by the examples we 



Ig4 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

have named, and by such paintings as " Moonrise in the 
Adirondacks," '' A Breezy Day on the Road," " On the 
North Shore," and a dozen others from the same studio, 
her lovers will have no occasion to " hing their heids.'' 

Another landscape painter of note was James Hope, 
who was born not far from Abbotsford in 1818, and set- 
tled on a farm in Canada, along with his parents, when 
a boy. He was for a time a teacher in a seminary at 
Castleton, Vt., and it was not until 1848 that he found 
it possible to put into practice an ambition which had 
long possessed him and devote his time entirely to art. 
After considerable struggles to gain a footing, he took 
up his abode in New York in 1853, and soon found a 
market for his canvases. In 1865 he was chosen an As- 
sociate of the National Academy, and such works as 
" Rainbow Falls," " The Forest Glen," or " The Gem of 
the Forest," amply proved his genius for landscape paint- 
ing. From 1872 till his death Mr. Hope spent his time 
in quiet retirement at Watkins Glen, New York. 

In a purely popular sense no Scottish-American artist 
ever commanded so wide attention as Alexander Hay 
Ritchie, who died at New Haven, Conn., Sept. 19, 1895. 
He was born at Glasgow in 1822, and in early life removed 
to Edinburgh and was educated in Heriot's Hospital. 
He was apprenticed to a firm of machinists, but devel- 
oped a taste for art, and studied under Sir William Allan, 
one of the most famous of the historical painters of Scot- 
land. In 1843 l^e settled in the United States, after a 
short stay in Canada, and soon afterward took up his 
residence in Brooklyn, where he resided until just before 
his death. He quickly acquired high rank as an engraver 
in stipple and mezzotint, and gradually won a reputa- 
tion as an original painter in oils, particularly of por- 
traits and historic scenes in which figures predominated. 
His popularity reached its height b\ his painting of the 
" Death of Lincoln," and such works as " Mercy Knock- 
ing at the Gate," " Fitting Out Moses for the Fair,'* 
showed that he possessed the charms of fancy as well as 
the graces of art. His painting of " Washington and His 
Generals " proved equally popular, and by means of his 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 185 

own engraving of it, that patriotic group now decorates 
■ thousands of homes throughout the American conti- 
nent. As a portrait painter, in wdiich work his " Dr. Mc- 
Cosh," " Henry Clay," and " Professor Charles Hodge 
of Princeton " are notable examples, Mr. Ritchie left 
some particularly creditable examples of his skill, while 
as a book illustrator his graver was constantly employed 
for many years prior to his death. 

Pleasing memories are recalled by such examples of 
pure art as " The Palisades," " Sugar Loaf Mountain," 
" Autumn in the Adirondacks," and other pictures of 
John Williamson, an artist who found in and around the 
magnificent scenery of the Hudson constant employment 
for his brush, and a perpetual incentive to attain the 
highest possible ideal of his art. He studied that noble 
stream from its source to the sea, and knew it, and could 
reproduce it in all its moods. Williamson was born in 
the very inartistic region of Tolcross, Clasgow, in 1827, 
and died at Glenwood-on-Hudson in 1885, nearly all of 
his life being passed on this side of the Atlantic, as he 
was taken from his native land while a child. 

Another artist who had Glasgow for his birthplace was 
Thomas Lachlan Smith, whose specialty was Winter 
scenes, and who contributed two notable pictures to the 
collection at the Centennial Exhibition — " The Deserted 
House " and " The Eve of St. Agnes." Smith received 
his artistic training in the studio of George H. Boughton 
(now winning yearly successes in London) at Albany, 
and he opened a studio in that city in 1859. In 1862 he 
forsook Albany for New York, where he died in 1884, 
having won a recognized position among the American 
painters of his time. 

So much for painters. We may now, having shown 
the merits of the Scottish-American " limners," bring for- 
ward some instances of those wdio have won fame with 
the chisel and molding tools. One of the earliest of these 
on our list is John Crookshanks King, who w'as born in 
the ancient and historic village of Kilwinning, Ayrshire, 
in 1806, and died in the historic city of r>oston in 1882. 
He was educated in his native countv, and there served 



18G THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his apprenticeship to his trade — that of machinist. In 
1829 he crossed the Atlantic, and for a tin;e was Super- 
intendent of factories in Louisvihe and Cincinnati. It 
was in 1834 that he began to understand the extent of 
his genius for modehng, and in that year he made a clay 
figure wdiich so pleased Hiiam D. Powers, America's 
most poetic sculptor, that he advised him to devote his 
entire attention to such w'ork. After a brief residence 
in New Orleans, King settled in Boston in 1840, and in 
that city most of his artistic career was spent. Among his 
best-known busts are those of Daniel Webster, John 
Quincy Adams, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. King also 
excelled as a maker of cameo portraits a branch of art 
which at present has gone out of fashion, although there 
are not w^anting signs that it will again become a fad in 
the society world. 

Few if the many thousands of visitors to the memorial 
temple which rises over the Doon, not far from the Auld 
Brig, as a national tribute to the memory of the genius 
who gave fame to that classic section of Ayrshire by his 
pen, know that the two figures representing " Tam o' 
Shanter " and " Souter Johnnie '' which are shown in 
the grounds below are the work of a sculptor who died 
on a farm at Ramapo, N. Y., in 1850. James Thorn, the 
sculptor in question, ended his career in that lonely spot 
a sadly disappointed man. He was born in Ayrshire, 
and began life as a stone mason. He acquired the art 
of modeling mainly by his own personal observation and 
practice, and in 1828 produced the two figures which, 
shown on the banks of the Doon, have preserved his 
name to the present day. In an artistic sense he never 
advanced any further than these statues, and such works 
as his figure of " Old Mortality " simply reproduced their 
artistic beauties and defects. It seems a pity that Thorn 
did not have the benefit of two or three years' practical 
training at some of the art centres, but fate denied him 
the opportunity, and all his work was done in a narrow 
and rather primitive groove. But he was a genius un- 
doubtedly, and lacked merely the necessary study to have 
been able to give full expression to the ideals he so ear- 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 187 

nestly tried to interpret with his chisel. His work was 
very popular with the people, but his studio at Ayr was 
never greatly burdened with orders, and it was in the 
hope of winning- a more remunerative popularity that he 
emigrated. In America, however, there is no trace of his 
having had any success at all, or even of his doinsj any 
work. 

A much more modern instance of a Scottish sculptor's 
success in America is that of Mr. J. M. Rhind, son of a 
once well-known Edinburgh sculptor. Mr. Rhind set- 
tled in New York from Edinburgh in 1888, and was not 
long in coming to the front among that city's sculptors. 
His most noted work — the King memorial fountain at 
Albany — is an elaborate and thoughtful group of sculp- 
ture, rather than a single example, and shows the artist 
to be a man of imagination as well as of artistic ability. 
Its theme is that of Moses striking the rock, and the 
story is completely told in the attitude and composition 
of all the figures, from the majestic representation of 
Moses to the sweet outline of the baby which is getting 
from its mother a draught of the blessed water flowing 
from the rock in answer to the stroke from the Patri- 
arch's staff. Mr. Rhind also executed one of the mag- 
nificent bronze doors now on Trinity Church. 

Msitors to New York's Central Park have admired 
tlic beautiful carved work on the Terrace and Mall — 
work that is now beginning to lose its sharp outline un- 
der stress of the weather changes, which in the Northern 
States are so destructive of outdoor stonework. A great 
deal of this carving was done by Robert Thomson, a 
sculptor of excjuisite taste, who, if we may judge by his 
work in Central Park, was as conscientious and thorough 
in his attention to the most trifling and almost hidden 
details as to those things which were certain to arrest 
the public eye. For many years there stood in the same 
park a group modeled by him to which was given the 
name of "Auld Lang Syne." It represented Tarn o' Shan- 
ter and Souter Johnnie enjoying a crack, with the usual 
accompaniments. To a vScotsman the group was more 
tlian a work of art ; it was a glimpse o' liame. Every 



188 ^HE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Scot resident in New York knew each line in the group, 
and every new arrival in the community was taken to 
the nook where it stood, or was sent there soon after his 
arrival. After several years of exposure the freestone in 
which the figures were carved began to show signs of dis- 
integration, and to save the work it was removed to the 
building at the Casino where the Crawford models were 
on view, and there it was badly damaged in the fire 
which laid that building in ruins. It is still stored some- 
where in the Park, but too much worsted in its encounter 
with the flames to be attractive — even to Scotsmen, it is 
said. After a residence of some fifteen years in this coun- 
try, spent mainly in New York, Pliiladelphia, and Balti- 
more, Mr. Thomson returned to Scotland, and, settling 
in Edinburgh, continued his work as a sculptor. He ex- 
ecuted, among other things, several figures for the niches 
in the Scott Monument, including Jeannie Deans and 
the Laird of Dumbiedykes. He died in that city early ni 
1895. One of Thomson's pupils, Alexander M. Calder, a 
native of Aberdeen, has long held a noted position 
among Philadelphia sculptors. He cut or designed most 
of the carved work on the new Public Buildings, and that 
magnificent pile is crowned by his gigantic figure of 
William Penn. 

George E. Ewing, the once noted Glasgow sculptor, 
whose figure of Burns stands in that city's famous plaza, 
George Square, closed a somewhat varied career in New 
York in 1884. He had done much good work in Glas- 
gow and the West of Scotland, and many Scots in Amer- 
ica were surprised when he forsook his native land and 
entered upon a new career in New York. Whatever ex- 
pectations he had formed of America were doomed to 
disappointment, and his experience was a succession of 
failures. The fact was, he was too old on reaching 
America to begin life anew, and his artistic methods and 
ideals were too firmly cast to adapt themselves to the 
taste of the American connoisseurs, and so accomplish 
anything like satisfactory financial results. He executed 
some very pleasing busts, notably one of the Rev. Dr. 
Taylor, and one of the Rev. Dr. Omiston, both good ex- 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. ]g9 

amples of conscientious modeling, with, in the bust of Dr. 
Ormiston, a clash of genius which marked the artist; but 
these things brought no " grist to the mill." After two 
years' struggling in New York, Ewing went to Philadel- 
phia, but there his success was no greater, and his life 
became full of sadness. When Henry Irving first visited 
Philadelphia Ewing called on him — they were acquaint- 
ed long before. Learning of his, plight, the great actor 
at once gave him a commission to execute a medallion 
portrait of himself and one of Miss Terry. To get the 
necessary sittings he accompanied the actors to New 
York and lodged at the Brevoort House. There, one 
morning, he was found lying dead in bed. The room was 
partly filled with gas from an open jet in the chandelier, 
and it was supposed that Mr. Ewing had either not no- 
ticed the escape when he retired to bed, or, in extinguish- 
ing the light had involuntarily reopened the jet. The re- 
mains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn. 
Mr. Ewing virtually left nothing on this side of the At- 
lantic by which his ability as a sculptor can publicly be 
judged, a fact which is to be regretted, for he was a man 
of brilliant parts, with high ideals as an artist, and woukl 
have at least amply justified his Scottish reputation had a 
fitting opportunity been vouchsafed to him. 

In the Wellstood family, which for a long series of 
years had at least two representatives in the foremost 
ranks of American engravers, we find several men of un- 
doubted artistic ability who devoted their whole lives 
toward improvement of that branch of art. The family 
was an Edinburgh one, and is still in some of its branches 
active in the daily doings of that grand old city. John 
Geikie Wellstood was born in Auld Reekie in 1813, and 
settled in New York in 1830. After being in business 
for several years, his firm merged in the American Bank 
Note Company, and he remained in that concern until 
1 87 1, when he founded the Columbian Bank Note Com- 
pany in Washington, of which he became President. In 
connection with this estal)lishment he modeled and part- 
ly engraved the backs of all the United States Treasury 
notes. When all work of this class was undertaken by 



190 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

a Government bureau Air. Wellstood returned to New 
York and became again connected with the American 
Bank Note Company. As a script engraver he was con- 
sidered superior to any man of his time. 

His brother, Wihiam, born at Edinburgh in 1819, and 
who was for a long term of years engaged in business in 
New York, devoted himself more to pictorial work, and 
his portraits of Longfellow, President Grant, and Flor- 
ence Nightingale, were long ranked as among the best 
examples of the American engraver's art. High praise 
is due also to such works as his " Mount Washington," 
after Gifford, and his " Coast of Mount Desert," after 
William Hart. For a small engraving, an engraving in 
which the engraver has put his heart as much as painter 
ever did into his canvas, we know of nothing finer than 
the portrait of Hew Ainslie, the poet, with its emblematic 
wreath, which William Wellstood engraved after a de- 
sign by his brother Stephen, for the edition of Ainslie's 
poems issued in 1855. James, a son of William Well- 
stood, who was born in New York City in 1855 and died 
in 1880, was an engraver of much promise, as is amply 
evidenced by his " Safe in Port," after the painting of 
that name by William Moran. The whole family, how- 
ever, have been in, one way or another distinguished 
" above the lave," and would require a chapter to them- 
selves, instead of merely the passing notice it is within 
the province of a volume like this to give. 

A noted example of an engraver developing into a 
painter — and a painter of first rank — is furnished by the 
career of Walter Shirlaw. Born in Paisley — the town 
of poets — in 1838, and emigrating to the United States 
with his parents two years later, Mr. Shirlaw's entire ed- 
ucation, artistic and otherwise, has been gained on this 
side of the Atlantic. He learned the trade of engraving — 
his specialty being work on bank notes — but even when 
a child had inclinations for the higher l^ranch of art. and 
the first picture he exhibited, at the National Academy 
in 1861, won such favorable comment that he decided 
to leave engraving alone for the future. After studying in 
Munich for a year or two, he returned to America, and 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 191 

his career since then as a landscape artist lias been one 
of continued and increasing success. Among his most 
noted works have been " Jealousy," now owned by the 
National Academy of Desig'n; " Good Morning/' " Sheep 
Shearing in the Bavarian Highlands," " Gossip," and 
" Indian Girl." Mr. Shirlaw became an Academician in 
1888, and was one of the founders and the first Presi- 
dent of the Society of American Artists. 

We would like to devote considerable space to the 
hundreds of Scotch architects who have been at work 
in this country since it began to cultivate the arts, but 
the subject is too great to be even niore than barely 
hinted at at the tail end of a chapter, and that is all that 
our scheme will permit. So we must content ourselves 
with a couple of examples. 

In an issue of the New York " Scottish-American " for 
1888 is the following notice regarding an early archi- 
tect whose name is by no means vet forgotten in New 
York: 

" The alterations now in progress at Castle Garden re- 
veal much of the old work of Alexander McComb, the 
old New York architect, who was the most prominent 
member of his profession in this country in the middle of 
last century. He was a native of Scotland, but of what 
county is not known, although it is generally believed to 
have been Ayrshire. When the old City Hall, in Wall 
Street, was remodeled and practically rebuilt, Mr. Mc- 
Comb was the architect, and a very stately building it 
was. McComb amassed considerable wealth, bought a 
large tract of land in the Adirondacks, and finally settled 
there, leaving his business to his son, John. His name 
is still recalled by McComb's Dam Bridge, in the upper 
part of the city. 

" John McComb was born in this city in 1763, and was 
as successful as his father. He erected a fine house for 
himself in Bowling Green, which was long known as the 
McComb Mansion, and all the principal buildings put 
up in New York between 1795 and 1830 were designed 
by him. His greatest work, so far as we know, is the 
present City Hall, the cornerstone of which was laid in 



192 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

1803, when Edward Livingston, the descendant of an 
old and aristocratic Scotch family, was Mayor. Another 
memorial of McComb's skill is old St. John's Church, on 
Varick Street, which in its day was thcught to be a more 
perfect and comfortable church than old St. Paul's, at the 
corner of Vesey Street and Broadway. McConib also 
designed several improvements at Castle Clinton, (now 
Castle Garden,) some of which after being concealed by 
wooden erections for many years are again being ex- 
posed to view. He lived to a good old age, dying in this 
city in 1853, and left a name that will ever rank promi- 
nent among New York architects." 

A more modern example may be selected in the career 
of John McArthur, who was born in Bladenock, Wigton- 
shire, in 1823. In 1848 he did his first public work in 
this country, when he designed the House of Refuge in 
Philadelphia. Since then he has designed scores of pub- 
lic buildings, such as the Naval Hospitals at Philadel- 
phia, Annapolis, Md., and ]\Iare Island, Cal.; Public 
Ledger Building, Philadelphia; Lafayette College, Eas- 
ton, Penn., and for his crowning work, the new Public 
Buildings of Philadelphia, In 1874 Mr. McArthur de- 
clined the ofTer of the ofifice of Supervising Architect of 
the Treasury. 

It would hardly do to pass away from the architects 
without some mention of the men who interpret their 
ideas — the mechanics. In stonework, Scotch masons 
long held the lead in this country; wherever a stone 
building was being erected, Scotsmen in greater or lesser 
numbers were certain to be found. Every building- of 
any size in the country, it may be safe to say, owes some- 
thing to Scotch ingenuity. The Capitol at Albany, the 
State House at Boston, the Tomns at New York, the 
Metropolitan Museum, the City Hall at Chicago, and 
hundreds of other edifices famous over the country were 
reared amid the sound of the Doric. To take one notable 
instance, the Smithsonian Institution at Washington was 
built by Gilbert Cameron, a native of Greenock, who for 
several years was the most noted contractor in the Cap- 
ital Citv. When the civil war broke out Cameron, then 



ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS. 



193 



an old man, found hiniscn ni possession oi a competency, 
and, despising- all schemes for amassing greater wealth, 
he returned to his native country and spent his time in 
a house he called " Washington Cottage," at Greenock, 
vmtil his death, iji 1866. 




CHAPTER VII. 

SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 

IT would be singular if a country whose genius gave to 
the world the art of logarithms, the steam engine, the 
knowledge of chloroform, illuminating gas, and a host 
of other universally renowned inventions, discoveries, 
and appliances would not be represented in scientific pur- 
suits and the higher mechanical sciences in America. We 
specify higher mechanical because what might be termed 
actual mechanical work can have no share in our in- 
quiries. Scotch mechanics are found all over the coun- 
try, and are generally held in the highest regard for 
their thorough mastery over their work, their intelligent 
manipulation of details, their readiness to grasp new 
ideas, even when they do not evolve them, and their 
conscientious devotion to whatever matter may be in 
hand. There is not a railway machine shop in America, 
or iron shipbuilding establishment, where Scotch me- 
chanics may not be found. The same, in fact, might be 
said of every extensive mechanical establishment on the 
continent. Into the story of this great army of toilers, 
hard at worTc, every day doing something that is to aid 
in the further development of the country's resources or 
comforts, we cannot enter. We must perforce confine 
ourselves to the higher departments of science — to ex- 
amples selected from among what may be called pro- 
fessional workers. 

Without at all attempting to take away from any one 
the credit of being the first to make the science of teleg- 
raphy a success, we must claim that the first publicly to 
express the idea that electricity could be so utilized was 
a Scotsman who ended his days in Virginia. This was 
194 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 195 

Charles Morrison, a native of Greenock. Very little is 
known about his life history beyond the fact that he was 
a surgeon by profession, a man of extreme modesty, and 
that, unable to make a living in Scotland, he crossed 
over to X'irginia and died there. Many efforts have been 
made in America and Scotland to discover some addi- 
tional information about his life and death, but without 
avail. His claim to have demonstrated that electricity 
could be utilized for conveying intelligence is based upon 
a letter which he sent from Renfrew to the Scots Maga- 
zine, and which appeared in that once famous periodical 

in 1753- 

The essential portion of the letter is as follows: 
" It is well known to all who are conversant with elec- 
trical experiments that the electric power may be propa- 
gated along a small wire, from one place to another, 
without being sensibly abated by the length of its prog- 
ress. Let, then, a set of wires, equal in number to the 
letters of the alphabet, be extended horizontally between 
two given places parallel to one another, and each of 
them about an inch distant from that next to it. At 
every twenty yards' end let them be fixed in glass, or 
jeweler's cement, to some firm body, both to prevent 
them from touching the earth or any other non-electric, 
and from breaking by their own gravity. Let the elec- 
tric gun l)arrel be placed at riglit angles with the extrem- 
ities of the wires, and about an inch below them. Also 
let the wires be fixed on a solid piece of glass, at six 
inches from the end, and let that part of them which 
reaches from the glass to the machine have sufftcient 
spring and stififness to recover its situation after having 
been brought in contact with the barrel. Close by the 
supporting glass let a ball be suspended from every wire; 
and about a sixth or an eighth of an inch below the balls 
place the letters of the alphabet, marked on bits of paper 
or any other substance that may be light enough to rise 
to the electrified ball, and at the same time let it be so 
contrived that each of them may reassume its proper 
place when dropped. 

" All things constructed as above, and the minute pre- 



196 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

viously fixed, I begin the conversation with my distant 
friend in this manner. Having set the electrical machine 
a-going as in ordinary experiments, suppose I am to 
pronounce the word Sir; with a piece of glass or any 
other electric per sc, I strike the wire S, so as to bring it 
in contact with the barrel, then i, then r, all in the same 
way; and my correspondent, almost in tlic same instant, 
observes these several characters rise in order to the 
electrified balls at his end of the wires." 

Any one can see that there is a big difiference between 
the electric telegraph of to-day and that outlined in this 
letter, but the essential principle is the same, and surely 
this unfortunate Scot should receive credit for thus pro- 
mulgating an idea which others took up and perfected 
until it has become one of the wonders of the modern 
world. 

So, too, with the question of steam navigation. Years 
before Taylor or Miller on Dalswinton, or Bell on the 
Clyde, or Fulton on the Hudson, demonstrated its feasi- 
bility it was fully showai on the Potomac in the presence 
of George Washington by James Rumsey, who was born 
in Virginia of Scotch parents in 1754. His first really 
public experiment was made in 1786, and two years later 
he exhibited another model. One writer, Mr. James 
Weir, Jr., says: " He had all the native shrewdness and 
astuteness generally ascribed to the Scotchman. He 
was a man of fine presence, tall and powerfully built. 
While, strictly speaking, not an educated man, he was 
an omnivorous reader and well versed in matters per- 
taining to his profession — civil engineering. He was a 
good talker, but a better listener, and his neighbors re- 
garded him with respect, and looked upon him as a man 
of undoubted genius. 

" Testimony adduced before the House of Representa- 
tives in 1839 shows that Rumsey had conceived the idea 
of steam navigation as early as August, 1783. I^aboring 
under very adverse circumstances, he succeeded in the 
Autumn of 1784 in making a test of some of the princi- 
ples of his engine and propelling apparatus. In January, 
1785, Rumsey obtained a patent from the General As- 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 197 

scinbly of Maryland for navigating the waters of that 
State. During- the whole of that year he was busy in 
the construction of a steamboat, and in 1786 he success- 
fully navigated this boat on the Potomac at Shepherds- 
town in the presence of hundreds of spectators." 

We have, quoted American testimony in connection 
with this case, as Scotsmen have often been accused ot 
national prejudice in connection with the subject of early 
steam navigation. 

The first Scotch scientist of any consequence, so far as 
we have been able to trace, to settle in America was 
William Douglas, a native of Linlithgowshire. He was 
born in 1691, and left Scotland for the American Colo- 
nies in 1716, settling in Boston two years later as a phy- 
sician, a profession he had studied at Glasgow. He 
quickly established a large and profitable practice, but 
!:e had the knack of making enemies, and soon could 
number them by the score. He appears to have been a 
man of strong prejudices, quick in temper, and pos- 
sessed of a degree of blunt outspokenness which often 
led him into awkward positions. He was considerable 
of a busybody, too, and had opinions on almost any sub- 
ject, and these opinions he never concealed, even when 
personal policy would have inculcated silence as his best 
and most profitable course. He was a bitter opponent 
of the idea of vaccination as a preventive of smallpox, 
and he advocated additional stamp duties at a time when 
the trend of public sentiment in the Colonies was in fa- 
vor of their abolition. But in spite of his marked pecul- 
iarities he was a man of the warmest heart, and had, 
after all, more friends than enemies. He was scrupu- 
lously honest in everything he did, and as a medical prac- 
titioner his reputation was second to none in New Eng- 
land. He published an " almanack '' in 1744 which is 
yet highly valued by the curious, and his many medical 
publications show him to have been a fearless thinker 
and a diligent student. He died at Boston in 1750. 

A year later than Dr. Douglas there came to America 
a much more lovable personage, who was destined to 
leave a deeper mark in the country's annals. This was 



198 THE SCOT IN AMERICA, 

Dr. Thomas Graeme, who, as one of the founders, in 
1749, and tlie first President of the St. Andrew's Society 
of Philadelpliia, raised a better and more enduring mon- 
ument to his own worth and patriotism than could have 
been constructed in marble or granite. 'Indeed, he seems 
to have been very popular among his countrymen in the 
Quaker City, for, after leaving the chair of the society 
wdiich he had helped to found he was recalled to that 
honorable office, and served from 1764 until his death in 
1771. Dr. Graeme was born at Balgowan in 1688 and 
settled in Philadelphia in 17 17, at the instance of Sir 
William Keith, Lieutenant Governor, whom he accom- 
panied across the ocean, and remained there until the 
end of his career. During most of his life he practiced 
his profession as a physician, and as such he attained 
considerable eminence, but his practice was more or less 
interrupted by several appointments which he held. In 
1726 Dr. Graeme became a member of the Provincial 
Council, in 1727 he was appointed Naval Olificer at 
Philadelphia, in 1731 he was chosen a Justice of the Su- 
preme Court, and in 1741 became again Naval Ofiticer, 
and continued in that position for twenty years. He had 
a marked inliuence on Philadelphia during his career, 
and his charitable disposition was shown in many ways. 
Besides helping, at least, to organi.ze the St. Andrew's 
vSociety, which from its beginning has been an exponent 
of practical, sensible, and timely charity, Dr. Graeme 
took an active part in founding the Pennsylvania Hos- 
pital, of which institution he acted (from 1751) during 
several years as physician. Scotsmen of this stamp, and 
there were and are an army of them, exert a wonderful 
amount of good in the world, and, indeed, it ma^" be 
said that the influences of their lives are not lost even in 
the mass of good influences which preserve the moral 
vitality of the world, but stand out in bold relief as in- 
stances of what may be accomplished by well thought 
out and kindly efforts even when not backed up by vast 
individual wealth. 

Dr. John Dinning, who. according to the records of 
the St. Andrew's Societv of Charleston, became a mem- 



SCIENTISTS AND INVIilNTORS. 190 

bcr of that ore^anization in 173 1, arrived in America a 
year before, and soon built up a prosperous practice in 
South Carohna's historical city. He was born in Dun- 
dee in 1708 and studied medicine at Edinburgh. Early 
in his professional career he took a special interest in 
natural science, was fond of experimenting- in physics — 
or natural philosophy — and when the subject of electric- 
ity first began to be broached he carried on an extensive 
and learned correspondence with Benjamin Franklin 
concerning it. Dr. Linning was the first to introduce an 
electrical apparatus in Charleston. His interest in his 
profession, however, was not lessened by such experi- 
ments or studies, and he was ever striving to keep fully 
abreast with the medical progress of his time, either by 
observation in his own practice or by reading. One evi- 
dence of this still remains, although the work is now ob- 
solete, in his " History of Yellow Fever," the first Amer- 
ican book on the subject. Dr. Linning died at Charles- 
ton in 1760. 

The family physician of (ieorge Washington and his 
firm and attached friend from the day they first met, at 
Fort Necessity, in 1754, until the nation's hero passed 
away at Mount Vernon, in 1799, was Dr. James Craik, a 
native of Scotland, who had settled in early life in Vir- 
ginia. He was born in 1731. In 1754, when he met 
Washington at Fort Necessity, he was Surgeon in a pro- 
vincial corps, and stood b}' that officer's side when tne 
bodv of the commander of the provincial forces. Gen. 
I'raddock, was being committed to the grave. When 
the Revolutionary War broke out, Craik adopted the 
cause of the Colonies and saw a good deal of active serv- 
ice. At the siege of Yorktown he was director general 
of the hospital, and the skill and the devotion he showed 
won the admiration of all who were brought into con- 
tact with him. After the struggle was over. Dr. Craik 
settled near the home of Gen. Washington, and the two 
men enjoyed the pleasantest intimacy. When Washing- 
ton was seized with his last illness, the old family physi- 
cian was simimoned. and held the hand of the warrior- 
statesman as he passed out through the veil. Dr. Craik 



200 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

spent his closing years quietly in his Mrginia home, and 
he died there in 1814, when the country was in the midst 
of its second, and it is to be hoped its last, armed con- 
test with Britain. 

Dr. Craik was one of those quiet, useful men who do 
much g-ood on their journey through the world, but who, 
it must be confessed, acquire eminence not so much by 
their own talents as by those of their friends. He was rec- 
ognized as a skillful, conservative physician, but without 
any of those brilliant qualities which would have of 
themselves given him prominence in his profession or 
would have preserved his name and memory till the 
present day. His fame was not to be compared to that 
of his contemporary. Dr. Peter Middleton, one of the 
original members of the St. Andrew's Society of New 
York and its President for three terms, 1767-8-9. He 
was a native of Edinburgh, and graduated in medicine in 
that city. He settled in New York about 1730, and soon 
was regarded as the most eminent physician and surgeon 
in the Colony. In 1750, in company with another med- 
ical man, he made the first dissection in America of a 
body before a number of students, and in the matter of 
the education for his own profession Dr. Middleton 
seemed to have always taken a deep interest. In 1767 he 
established a medical school in New York, a school 
which was subsequently merged into King's [Columbia] 
College, of which institution he was one of the Gov- 
ernors from 1770 till his death, in 1781. 

Equally prominent as a physician, and entitled to spe- 
cial remembrance as the first of the great scientific 
American weather prophets who have made the name of 
" American weather " so famous or notorious over the 
world, was Dr. Lionel Chalmers. He crossed the At- 
lantic in 1736, settled soon afterward in Charleston, S. 
C, and practiced his profession there for some forty 
vears, or until his death, in 1777. Dr. Chalmers was 
born at Campbellton, Argyllshire, in 1715, and left Scot- 
land for America immediately upon graduating from 
Edinburgh University. He published several medical 
books and essays, but his weather researches, notably as 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 201 

expressed in his now scarce " Treatise on Weather and 
Diseases of South CaroHna," are his best claims to dis- 
tinction. He made careful observations, ventured even 
on prophesying', and saw that study on scientific lines 
was only needed to reduce the weather problem to an 
exact science. 

An amiable man, of high scientific attainments, and 
whose life was one of usefulness, was Dr. William Wil- 
son, who was contented to practice his profession as a 
physician in a very limited circle — that of the family and 
friends of Chancellor Livingston — but who filled several 
oiftces with marked ability and was one of the early pro- 
moters of scientific agriculture in America. He arrived 
in New York in 1784, bringing with him from Scotland 
his newly received medical graduation papers, from Glas- 
gow University, and letters of introduction to Chan- 
cellor Livingston. That great and good man was de- 
lighted with the new-comer, and invited him to take up 
his quarters at the family mansion of Clermont, which 
remained his home until his death, in 1828, at the age of 
seventy-three years, long after his patron and friend had 
passed away. In 1804 Dr. Wilson was appointed Judge 
of Columbia County, and held that office for several 
years. His interest in agricultural matters was increased 
and developed by his residence in that section of the 
State, and produced many useful results. One of these 
was the organization, by his efi^orts, of the Farmers' Club 
of Dutchess and Columbia Counties — the pioneer of the 
purely agricultural societies in New York. 

Another scientific physician was Dr. John Spence of 
Philadelphia, who was born at Edinburgh in 1766 and 
educated at the university in that city. His first purpose 
when entering the classes at Edinburgh was to get en- 
rolled in the ranks of the ministry, but his views in that 
respect were not realized, and he turned his attention to 
the study of medicine. When he took up his residence 
in America his first employment was as a family tutor at 
Dumfries, \a. He was one of the stanchest advocates 
in America of vaccination, and was active in spreading 
abroad a knowledge of its practice and its beneficent in- 



202 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

fluence. He contributed largely to the medical and 
scientific journals of his time, and a spirited controversy 
which he had with the famous Benjamin Rush, and 
which was published in 1806 in the " Medical Museum " 
of Philadelphia, gave him a considerable degree of prom- 
inence. Dr. Spcncc died at Dumfries, Va., in 1829. 

Few physicians in New York State were more hon- 
ored during life than was Dr. James McNaughton, who 
was born at Kenmore, Perthshire, in 1809, and died in 
Paris, France, wliile on a visit, in 1874. His life from 
1817 until a few months before his death was spent in 
Albany, N. Y., and from 1840 on he honored the office 
of Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in 
Albany Medical College, while for many years he was 
regularlv elected President of tlie Albany County Med- 
ical College. His birthplace is remembered in Albany 
by the Kenmore Hotel, named in its honor by a com- 
pany in which his sons were prominent. Dr. Lawrence 
Turnbull (a native of Shotts) and his son, Dr. Charles 
Smith Turnbull, fill a large and prominent place in the 
medical annals of Philadelphia, while around New York 
such men as Prof. A. J. C. Skene, and in Boston practi- 
tioners like Dr. A. D. Sinclair are worthily upholding 
the fame of the motherland in the art of healing. 

But we have dwelt long enough among medical men, 
and must now cull some examples in other walks of 
science. 

One of the most noted of the scientific soldiers of the 
Revolutionary War was Robert Erskine, son of the Rev. 
Ralph Erskine, author of " Gospel Sennets " and one of 
the founders of the Secession Church in Scotland. Er- 
skine was born at Dunfermline in 1735. His first employ- 
ment was at Falkirk, and there and in England he seems 
to have become thoroughly posted in the making of can- 
non and cannon balls. After settling in America in 1771 
to become the manager of an iron works in New Jersey, 
he threw ofif, when opportunity offered, his allegiance to 
the British Crown and became Chief of Engineers on the 
stafT of Gen. Washington. He died in 1780, when the 
conflict was at its height, and his leader honored his 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 203 

memory by ordering a stone placed over his grave at 
Ringwood, N. J. — a memorial that can yet be seen by 
visitors to that region. 

Among the many scientific institutions of which Phila- 
delphia is so justly proud a prominent place is held by 
the Academy of National Science, which is now housed 
in a massive Gothic building on Logan Square. It was 
established in 1812 by a few enthusiasts in scientific mat- 
ters, one of the foremost being William Maclure, a na- 
tive of Ayr. He was born in " the auld toon " in 1763. 
He first visited America in 1780, but his stay was short, 
and he returned to Britain and engaged in business in 
London. In 1796, having meantime acquired a compe- 
tence, he crossed the Atlantic again, acquired citizenship 
in the young republic, and once more engaged in busi- 
ness, increasing his fortune. In 1803 he went to France 
as a Commissioner from the United States to settle the 
French spoliation claims, and it was while thus engaged 
that he became deeply interested in the then new subject 
of geology. He made a comprehensive study of the 
science, collected a large number of specimens, and de- 
termined on his return to America to devote himself 
solely to the study of its geology. This he did so efifect- 
ively and thoroughly and with such important results 
that the title of " Father of American Geology " has been 
bestowed upon him. The first fruits of his researches 
were contained in an exhaustive paper which he read be- 
fore the American Philosophical Society in 1809, and in 
1817 he published the first geological map of the United 
States. 

In his latter years Maclure was elected President of 
the Academy of Natural Science, and retained that honor 
until his death, although, his frequent absences from 
Philadelphia, and even from the country, might have 
warranted his replacement bv some other scientist. His 
social ideas were in many respects peculiar, and he tried 
in various ways to put them into practice. Thus, in 1819, 
he went to Spain, bought a tract of land from the revo- 
lutionary Governn:ent then in power, and endeavored to 
found an agricultural colony and school — mainly with 



204 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the view of advancing the interests and increasing the 
comforts of the poorer farmers and other tillers of the 
soil, but the deposition of the Government vitiated the 
title to the lands he had secured, and he was compelled 
to abandon the work. Then he essayed a similar scheme 
at New Harmony, Ind., and it also turned out a failure, 
although for very dififerent reasons. 

Mr. Maclure all this time steadily prosecuted his geo- 
logical studies, visiting nearly every section of the coun- 
try in pursuit of data and specimens, and these he gen- 
erously distributed among various societies, but his own 
collections, stored in Philadelphia, became wonderfully 
varied, and, for the time, complete. In 1827 he first vis- 
ited Mexico, and was so attracted by its opportunities 
for study that he returned there the following year and 
continued traveling in its territory till his death, in 1840. 
By his will he bequeathed his library and the bulk of his 
collections to the Academy of Natural Sciences, together 
with $25,000, which enabled that society to erect the 
building it so long occupied at the corner of Broad and 
Sanson! Streets, Philadelphia. Many of his geological 
specimens were given also to the American Geological 
Society, at New Haven, Conn. 

An eciually interesting and useful career was that of 
David Douglas, botanist, who was born at Scone, Perth- 
shire, in 1798, and was murdered in the Hawaiian Isb 
ands in 1834. His first employment as a botanist was in 
the service of the University of Glasgow, and afterward, 
as a botanical collector for the Horticultural Society of 
London, he traveled over a large part of the world. He 
journeyed in the northern and western regions of Can- 
ada with Sir John Franklin, and was one of the early ex- 
plorers of the Columbia River. In California he col- 
lected no fewer than 8,000 specimens of its flora, and 
wherever he went his industry and knowledge were 
fruitful of results. In botanical circles he is still remem- 
bered by his name being given to a species of pine — 
Pinus Douglassi — which he discovered, and many of the 
imported favorites which are now to be seen in English 
gardens were first carried to that country by him after 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 205 

some of his wandering's. Another Seot who is remem- 
bered botanically by having plants named after him was 
George Ure Skinner, who died at Aspinwall in 1867. 
While actively engaged as a member of the mercantile 
firm of Klee, Skinner & Co., Guatemala, he zealously 
pursued botanical researches in Western Mexico, Gua- 
temala, and in the Southern United States. 

In this connection we are reminded how numerous 
and important have been the Scotch florists who have 
settled in America. From the days of Grant Thorburn 
until the present time Scotch practical gardeners — men 
trained in Scotland — have always been in demand in 
America, and as seedsmen, florists, or overseers, working 
gardeners have had more to do with inspiring the Amer- 
ican people with the love of flowers now so character- 
istic of the nation, than any other race. The late Peter 
Henderson, for instance, as a practical gardener, a 
vendor of seeds and plants, and as an author was better 
known in American country homes than any man in his 
business, and he did more to make gardening of all 
sorts — practical and ornamental — really popular than any 
other gardener of his day and generation. The late 
Isaac Buchanan, who died in 1893 ^t a patriarchal age, 
long stood at the head of New York's florists. The pub- 
lic park system of Buffalo owes much — if not all — of its 
comprehensiveness and beauty to the labors and ability 
of Mr. W^illiam Macmillan, a native of Nairnshire, 
and his assistant, Mr. James Braik; and the Botanical 
Gardens of W^ashington owe their perfection in great 
measure to the loving care of Mr, W. R. Smith, (a native 
of Athelstane, Haddingtonshire,) who has been their 
Superintendent for many years. Mention of Mr. Smith 
reminds us that gardeners — mostly, as might be expect- 
ed, men of refined taste — find time to cultivate other 
things than flowers. Mr. Smith, for instance, proud as he 
is of his plants and shrubs, is also proud of his library 
of editions of Burns and Burnsiana, said to be the most 
extensive and complete in America. 

The story of a life which might have grasped the high- 
est earthly honors, which at times almost did grasp them, 



206 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

but failed, from some inscrutable reason, is always a 
sad one to read, and as we reflect on the career of David 
Boswell Reid it seems as if there lay in him the ability 
to have won for himself a famous name, but every line 
along which it ran seemed doomed to end in disappoint- 
ment, and the whole story is a painful one. He was 
born in Edinburgh in 1805 and educated in the university 
there. His student career was a brilliant one, and four 
years after graduating he taught chemistry in the uni- 
versity laboratory. In 1833 he became one of those 
" Extra-Mural " lecturers whose ability and popularity 
did so much to preserve the fame of Edinburgh scien- 
tific education at a time when the university itself was 
by no means in a progressive condition. Reid built a 
classroom and laboratory, and for several years he had 
over 300 pupils at each of his sessions, a larger number 
than attended the chemical lectures at the university. He 
paid close attention to the principles of ventilation and 
drainage, and in 1836, at the request of the Government, 
he suggested many changes in the internal structure of 
the old houses of Parliament in London, and superin- 
tended their execution. His work was so highly appre- 
ciated that from 1840 to 1845 l^^ was engaged mainly 
in London, superintending the drainage and ventilation 
of the present Palace of Parliament, and succeeded in 
perfecting these matters as fully as the plans of the archi- 
tects and the nature of the site permitted. He also lect- 
ured about this time in many of the larger cities in Great 
Britain, and was recognized as the leading authority on 
ventilation and sewerage. 

In 1856 Reid left Britain, and, after lecturing in many 
of the principal American cities, became Professor of 
Applied Chemistry in the LTniversity of Wisconsin, and 
afterward one of the Medical Inspectors of the United 
States Sanitary Commission. He was a man of consider- 
able energy, a clear and fluent speaker, and an interest- 
ing writer, while his various ])ublished works and contri- 
butions to " transactions " and periodicals were valuable 
and widely read. He died at Washington in 1863, in 
what ought to have been the very meridian of his life. 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 207 

In another chapter mention is made of Alexander Wil- 
son, the ornithologist and poet, who would have been 
referred to at more length here did not his prominence as 
a writer induce the insertion of his name among" those 
who have done something to further America s literary 
progress. His services to the ornithology of the United 
States, however, have been more generally valued and 
recognized than his ability as a writer, and it is with the 
view of recalling his earned honors in the world of books 
that* we prefer to discuss his career among the men of 
letters than in this place. But his labors as an ornitholo- 
gist not only had grand results in themselves, l)ut in- 
duced in others an enthusiasm for study along the same 
lines. There is no doubt that Wilson's example inspired 
Audubon and led to the magnificent career of that genius 
as a naturalist. 

Among others who followed in Wilson's footsteps as 
an ornithologist mention should be made of William 
Paterson Turnbull, whose work on the " Birds of East 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey," published in 1869, is 
a model of patient and accurate research and thoughtful 
study. Turnbull was born at Fala, Midlothian, in 1830, 
and was educated at the Edinburgh High School. He 
took up the study of ornithology at an early age, and a 
volume on the birds of East Lothian, which was pub- 
lished in Glasg'ow, showed that he was an observer of the 
closest and most painstaking type. After crossing the 
Atlantic, in 185 1, he made his home in Philadelphia and 
began a thorough study of the ornithology of the coun- 
try. He gradually acquired a complete library of the 
])ublished works on the subject and succeeded in collect- 
ing many letters, manuscripts, and drawings of his great 
hero — Alexander Wilson. Mr. Turnbull was a member 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and others of Phil- 
adelphia's scientific societies, a genial, amiable man, and 
his death, in 1871, was mourned by a wide circle of 
friends. 

In many respects the most extraordinary of the Scotch 
inventors whose ingenuity has helped to swell the busi- 
ness of the Patent Office was Hugh Orr, a Renfrewshire 



208 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

man. He was bom at Locliwinnoch in 1717, and trained, 
probably in Glasgow, as a gun and lock smith. He set- 
tled at Bridgewater, Mass., in 1737, and started at once 
in business as a maker of scythes and axes, erecting in 
connection with his little establishment the first trip ham- 
mer ever seen near Boston. His business prospered, and 
his manufactures were soon found all over the New Eng- 
land States. In fact, for many years he was the only 
maker of edged tools in that section of the country, and 
from his employ, as time went on, men went out to vari- 
ous parts of the Colonies and so built up a new industry, 
supplanting imported goods. In 1753 Mr. Orr invented 
a machine for dressing flax, and in the cultivation of that 
plan he took a deep interest, and succeeded, in the long 
run, in making it a profitable agricultural industry 
around his home town. The subject of flax raising in- 
deed, seems to have been his hobby, and in it he found 
health and change from the harassing labors of his foun- 
dry. Almost every man, philosophers tell us, recjuires 
to have a hobby of some sort, and it is well when it takes 
the form of something practical, something that may be 
of use to himself and to his fellow-creatures. But the 
hobby, whatever development it may take, should be en- 
couraged so long as it is innocent and healthful. Some 
men take to photography, others to athletics, a lawyer 
may coquette with literature, a literary man may make 
a plaything of the law, a preacher may try gardening 
and a business man yachting. But, though the lawyer 
may make a poor litterateur and the litterateur be a tyro 
in law to the end of his days; though the preacher be 
an expensive gardener, raising potatoes at a cost of a dol- 
lar apiece, and the business man's heart may sink to his 
boots in a gale, such changes from the routine of men's 
daily lives are beneficial both to soul and body. It is 
rarely, indeed, that a man's hobby directs him to study 
out some matter that is at all likely to add to the gen- 
eral wealth of his fellow-citizens, and it is in this respect 
that Hugh Orr's flax-raising experiments deserve the 
highest commendation. 

In 1748 Orr made some five hundred stands of arms 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 209 

for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which were de- 
posited in Castle Wilham, in Boston Harbor. There they 
were in due time seized by the British, and it is said 
that some of the weapons are still stored in the museum 
in the Tower of London. When the disputes with the 
mother country culminated in the Revolution, Orr threw 
himself into the ranks of the Commonwealth and erected 
a foundry for the casting of brass and iron ordnance and 
the making- of cannon balls. He was also busily em- 
ployed manufacturing small arms, and the energy he 
threw into all his work astonished his contemporaries. 
After peace had been restored Orr returned to more use- 
ful pursuits than manufacturing life-destroying weapons. 
In company with two Scotch mechanics, Robert and 
Alexander Barr, he constructed some carding, roping, 
and spinning machines, and he had become so thorough 
a Yankee as to ask for an appropriation from the Legis- 
lature to complete them, and got it. The machines were 
the first of their kind ever seen in America, so that On 
may be called the introducer into the United States of 
the " spinning jenny." He was much honored by his 
fellow-citizens, and served as a State Senator from Ply- 
mouth County for several years before his death, in 1798. 
( )rr"s son, Robert, was the first to make iron shovels in 
New England, and for a long time was Master Armorer 
in the United States Arsenal at Springfield. 

Scotsmen are still " beating their brains " to supply the 
American forces with arms, and a very recent example 
of this is Mr. James P. Lee, the inventor of the Lee 
magazine gun, which in 1895 was adopted by the L^nited 
States Navy. Mr. Lee was born in Roxburghshire in 1837. 
On leaving school he learned his father's trade of watch- 
maker, and in his twentieth, year went to Janesville, Wis. 
hVom there he removed to Stevens Point, in the heart of 
the lumber region, and it was while in that place that he 
first began the series of experiments which culminated 
in the most wonderful gun that the American Navy now 
possesses. His first weapon was a breech-loading rifle, 
which was submitted to the Government during the 
civil war and adopted. Secretary Stanton gave Lee a 



210 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

contract to manufacture the weapon, and he organized 
the Lee Firearms Company, with a factory in Mihvaukee. 
The company did not prosper, mainly on account of the 
high cost of labor, and in 1870 Mr. Lee connected him- 
self with the Remington Company. With them he re- 
mained until the organization of the Lee Arms Company 
of Connecticut, with headquarters at Hartford. Despite 
liis long residence in America, Mr. Lee is an enthusiastic 
Scot, and as proud of the Borderland as though he had 
never been fifty miles from the Tweed all his life. 

Hugh Orr, as we have seen, was one of the first to 
start the American agricultural implement industry on its 
progress to become the best-known of all the manufact- 
ures of the country, and the first product of American 
mechanical skill to occupy a pre-eminent place in the 
markets of the world. One of the most noted of his 
successors and the first to bring about that perfection 
which has won general admiration Vv^as Henry Burden, 
a native of Dunblane, who came to America in 1819, in 
the twenty-eighth year of his age. He had received a 
good technical education, and was a thorough mechanic 
before he crossed the Atlantic, but his ingenuity — his 
genius, it might be called — was developed by the require- 
ments of the new country, and, settling at Troy, he be- 
gan the manufacture of agricultural implements. His 
first venture was an improved plough, which was very 
successful, and he sold as many as he could produce. He 
also introduced the first cultivator ever seen in this coun- 
try, and was continually inventing new implements or 
improving those already in use. A machine for making 
horseshoes was not only regarded as his greatest tri- 
umph, but made him wealthy, and gradually his estab- 
lishment at Troy became famous as one of the most ex- 
tensive in the world. Mr, Burden took a deep interest 
in the science of steam navigation, watched its progress 
closely, and himself invented a " cigar boat,'' with which 
he foresaw great possibilities, but was forced for various 
reasons to lay aside. The invention was regarded sim- 
ply as a curiosity, but Mr. Burden had no conception of 
concocting merely what might be regarded as a sight to 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 211 

astonish visitors; he was thoroughly practical in all his 
ideas, and, althoug-h he did not live to see his cigar boat 
a commercial success, its principle was not lost, and is 
to be found in the " whaleback " steamers now in use 
on the great lakes and in many of the modern models 
of torpedo boats. He owned patents by the hundred, 
and even these only represented a part of the fruits of 
his ingenuity. At his death, in 1871, he was beyond 
cjuestion the most successful inventor in the countrv, and 
he had the satisfaction of knowing that the products of 
his great establishment were as highly appreciated in 
Europe as in the markets of his adopted country. 

One of the most characteristically Scotch inventors 
the writer of this volume ever had the good fortune to 
meet was the Rev. Robert Dick of Buffalo, '' Brother 
Dick," as he was most generally called. He was at once 
preacher, lecturer, newspaper editor and writer, teacher 
and inventor, a man of the highest character, always 
aiming upward, and taking a deep interest in the moral 
elevation of the people. Mr. Dick was born at Bathgate 
in 1814. His parents, with eleven bairns, determined to 
emigrate when Robert was very young, and settled in 
Canada, where they died before any of the children had 
attained manhood. The lot of the bairns was, as might 
be supposed, a hard one. Robert managed to study for 
the ministry, and in spite of many disadvantages and hin- 
drances — the result of poverty — managed to graduate at 
Hamilton College, Clinton, in 1841. Then he taught 
school for several years, held several pastorates, and in 
1854 established at Toronto a religious paper called 
" The Gospel Tribune." All this time he found his re- 
laxation in his workshop. He was always inventing, al- 
ways trying to put his mechanical ideas into practice, and 
to devise something that would meet a popular demand. 
His newspaper experience finally gave him a clue, and 
his mailing machine not only met a pressing demand, 
but won for him comparative wealth. His business 
henceforth was devotecl to these machines, their per- 
fection, and introduction, and thev became part of the 
indispensable outfit of nearly every large newspaper of- 



212 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ficc on the continent. ]»ut he never al)andonc(l liis voca- 
tion of a minister of the Gospel, and even in the midst 
of his business journeys was always ready to " preach 
the Word " or to do somethinj]^ l)y speech, purse, or pres- 
ence to advance the cause of total abstinence, ot which he 
was a devoted advocate. His life was a useful and 
lovable one, he triumphed over great obstacles, he was 
outspoken in denouncing wrong, and even while im- 
mersed in business was ever ready to turn aside from 
temporal cares to talk of things celestial and say a word 
in season. Mr. Dick died at Bufifalo, a city that had 
been his home for many years, in i^(j^. 

Alexander Morton, the perfector, if nor the inventor, 
of gold pens, (for his claims to the latter distinction have 
been challenged,) was born at Darvel, Ayrshire, in 1820, 
and became a resident of New York in 1845. i" ^^5^' 
after many experiments, he began making gold pens, and 
after awhile, with his improvements in pointing, temper- 
ing, and grinding, his manufacture became famous. 
Throughout his business career he was always improv- 
ing these useful articles, and his efforts were so well ap- 
preciated that he acc[uired considerable wealth long before 
his untimely death, in i860. Another noted inventor was 
William Chisholm, long head of the Union Steel Com- 
pany of Cleveland, Ohio. He was born at Lochgelly, 
Fifeshire, in 1825, and, along with his brother Henry 
started the Cleveland Rolling Mill. He was constantly 
inventing new methods in machinery and mechanical 
implements, and particularly hoisting and pumping en- 
gines, and was the first to demonstrate the practicability 
of manufacturing screws from Bessemer steel. 

Early in 1895 there died at Pawtucket, R. I., an in- 
ventor of an intensely practical turn of mind— practical, 
inasmuch as his ambition was to produce inventions that 
would save both labor and material, and because when he 
once got into a groove that brought him success, he con- 
tinued to develop and deepen that groove all through 
his career. This was Duncan H. Campbell, who was 
born at Creenock in 1827 and settled, with his parents, 
in Boston, Mass., while yet a lad. When he finished his 



SCIIONTISTB AND INVENTORS. 21 ;} 

public school course he was sent to work at the shoe 
business, and conceived the idea of having machines do 
a great ])art of the work which he saw done by hand. 
I5it by bit, Ids inventions revolutionized the entire busi- 
ness and made it become the important factor it is to- 
day in the industries of New England. He invented 
])cgging machines, stitching machines, a lock-stitch ma- 
chine for sewing uppers, a machine for using waxed 
threads, a machine for covering buttons with cloth — and 
it is liard to recall all what, but all were in connection 
with the manufacture of shoes. 

An e(|ually inventive genius, and a more fortunate 
one, so far as financial returns was concerned, was 
Thomas Dickson, who died at Scranton in 1884, and 
whose name was for years the most ];rominent in that 
thriving Pennsylvania town, and is yet held in kind re- 
membrance. Mr. Dickson was l)orn at Lauder in 1822. 
He left Scotland when comparatively young, and his 
first employment was as a boy in charge of a couple of 
mules on the towpath of a canal at Carbondale, i'enn. 
From that he gradually rose in life, until he was known 
all over Pennsylvania as the head of the Dickson Manu- 
facturing Company at Scranton, and then he ac(|uired 
a national reputation as President of the Delaware and 
Hudson Canal Company and as a Director in a score 
or more of other corporations. He also establislied an 
iron plant on I>ake Champlain, and was ever ready to 
engage in any enterprise that promised to aid in the de- 
velopment of' the country. Mr. Dickson's ingenuity and 
inventive genius kept the Dickson Manufacturing Com- 
pany's products at the front all over the country, and 
these products covered a great variety of manufactures, 
from locomotives to stoves. He was a man of consid- 
erable refinement, and his elegant home at Scranton, 
with its magnificent library and large and well-selected 
gallery of paintings, was one of the show places of the 
city. 1 Ic was an omnivorous reader, and nothing pleased 
him better than to spend a few hours each day in the 
quiet of his library, while his pictures were a. coi-!::1:.nt 
source of delight tfj him and otliers. 



214 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

For many years one of the most popular teachers of 
elocution in Edinburg-h was Alexander Melville Bell, 
whose " readings " were regarded as among the most 
successful of each season's round of entertainments. Mr. 
Bell, who was born in Auld Reekie in 1819, was more 
than a mere elocutionist. He possessed the qualities of 
the poet and actor, and never gave a reading on any 
theme if he did not thoroughly appreciate and under- 
stand the full meaning of the author. He wrote m-uch on 
elocution, and always from a scientific standpoint. He 
invented a method for removing impediments in speech, 
and as author of " Msible Speech " was the first to show 
how words might be framed and meanings conveyed in 
the absence of sound. Somewhat late in life he removed, 
with his family, to Canada, and became instructor in elo- 
cution at Queen's University, Kingston. His great work 
was his investigations among deaf-mutes, and to the 
end of his long life he was constantly engaged in prob- 
lems calculated to break down the barriers of their isola- 
tion — to bring them into active sympathy with the rest 
of the world. 

In spite of his useful labors, however, Mr. Bell's mem- 
:)ry would be by this time only a reminiscence to a few 
personal friends and pupils were it not for the brilliant 
success accomplished bv his son in working out ideas 
on the same line as his father. This son, Alexander Gra- 
ham Bell — the inventor of the telephone — was born at 
Edinburgh in 1847, ^"^ accompanied his father to Can- 
ada. In 1872 he took up his residence in Boston as a 
teacher of vocal physiology, and, like his father, took a 
deep interest in the education of deaf-mutes. It was this 
tliat led to the romance and the fortune of his life — the 
mvention of the telephone and his marriage. One ac- 
count, seemingly by Mr. Bell himself, tells the story as 
follows: 

" The history of the telephone has been so often writ- 
ten that the facts relating to its growth and development, 
its legal battles and patent complications, are too well 
known to need repetition. Few people, however, are 
aware that an interesting romance hides in the back- 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 215 

ground. To go back to the beginning, there lived in the 
classic shades of Cambridge a Mr. Hubbard, who had 
four charming daughters. His youngest daughter, when 
but five years of age, was attacked with scarlet fever, 
whicli left her totally deaf. Everything possible was 
done for the child. She was sent to the best institutions 
in Europe, but her hearing was entirely gone. The rudi- 
ments of lip-reading were taught to her, as well as speak- 
ing by means of mechanical training of the vocal chords. 
( )n her return to her home her father decided to con- 
tinue her education, and she was sent to an institution 
in Charleston. It was here she first met Mr. Graham 
IJell, then an instructor in the institution. The secjuel 
was an engagement between the teacher and his pupil. 

" It was while endeavoring to contrive some electrical 
method by which his fiancee could regain her lost sense 
that Mr. Bell, who was always of an inventive turn of 
mind, discovered the secret of the transmitter of the tele- 
phone. At first he did not realize the importance of his 
discovery, and it was only after much persuasion that 
Mr. Hubbard induced him to take out patents. The rest 
is well known." 

The success of the Bell telephone was innnediate, and 
Mr. Bell, with the pertinacity of his race, kept steadily at 
work improving it, leaving the commercial side of the 
invention to be managed by others. In 1892, after a 
long and trying series of experiments, he in a manner 
perfected his telephone by making it useful for any dis- 
tance. On October 18 of that year he opened the first 
telephone connection between Chicago and New York, 
and its success demonstrated that distance was practi- 
cally no bar to the use of the instrument. Further than 
this into the story of the telephone we need not go. Its 
history — with its triumphs, litigations, and heartburn- 
ings — belongs to the scientific story of America. At his 
home in Washington and his country seat at Baddeck, 
Cape Breton, Mr. Bell is still busy in what he calls his 
workshops, but the secrets of these places are carefully 
guarded. The possessor of immense wealth, he can af- 
ford to experiment with whatever he has on hand until 



216 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

perfection is attained. But wondrous stories somehow 
creep out, and one is to the effect that a flying machine 
will in time make the name of Mr. Bell as widely as- 
sociated with a new era in locomotion as it has been with 
the transmission of recognizable sound. 

Among practical mechanics, men who can design as 
well as themselves handle the tools which fashion their 
designs, no name is more prominent than that of Henry 
Eckford. This once famous shipbuilder left Scotland in 
1 79 1, when he was sixteen years of age, and tried to es- 
tablish himself in some way of earning a living at Que- 
bec. The opportunities there, however, were small, and 
in 1796 he crossed the St. Lawrence, settled in New 
York, and threw in his future with the United States. 
But he did not ignore his native land by his change of 
allegiance, for we find that in 1802 he joined the local 
St. Andrew's Society. He commenced business as a 
boatbuilder and did fairly well, but his great oppor- 
tunity came with the outbreak of the war of 181 2, 
when he built several vessels for the Government to en- 
gage in service on the great lakes. In 1822 he built the 
steamer " Robert Fulton," which made the first success- 
ful steam voyage to New Orleans and Havana, an oc- 
currence that attracted attention all over the country. 
His greatest American work was done as Naval Con- 
sructor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, an appointment he 
secured in 1820, for while there he built six ships of the 
line from his own models, and one of tliese, the " Ohio," 
was regarded at the time as the finest vessel of her kind 
in the world. While in New York Eckford resided main- 
ly in a pleasant rural cottage on Love Lane, now part of 
West Twenty-sixth Street, and it was the scene of many 
joyous and intellectual gatherings. One of his closest 
friends was the poet Hallock, who was a frequent vis- 
itor at the cottage, with many other of the leading lit- 
erary men and thinkers of the day, as well as Drake and 
De Kay — two young men afterward celebrated as poets 
—who became the Scotch shipbuilder's sons-in-law. 

Eckford, as a result of a disagreement with the United 
States Governnient, left New York and readily found 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 217 

employment in designing war vessels for other coun- 
tries. His last engagement was in Turkey. He had 
built a sloop of war for Sultan Mahoud, and, accepting 
the ofifer of the position of Chief Naval Constructor of 
the Ottoman Empire, he proceeded to Constantinople, 
but died soon after he reached that city, in 1832. 

James Ferguson, who between 1817 and 181 9 was as- 
sistant surveyor of the Erie Canal, was a native of Perth- 
shire, where he was born in 1797. From 1819 till 1822 
he was one of the surveyors on the boundary commis- 
sion acting under the provisions of the treaty of Ghent, 
and afterward became assistant astronomer of the L'nited 
States Naval Observatory, an appointment he held till 
his death, at Washington, in 1867. His career as an as- 
tronomical student was a very brilliant one, and he was 
the discoverer of three asteroids, for which he received 
two of the astronomical prize medals given by the 
French Academy of Sciences. He was a quiet, unob- 
trusive, lovable man, immersed in his studies, and re- 
gardless of personal labor in faithfully fulfilling whatever 
work he had in hand. A shallower man with more pre- 
tensions might have cut a greater figure in the world, 
but he had no regard for mere fame, and was satisfied 
with his own consciousness of work well done. 

James Pugh Kirkwood, who in 1867 and 1868 was 
President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
had a much more varied career. He was born at Edin- 
burgh in 1807, and learned civil engineering and meas- 
uring in that city. On taking up his residence in Amer- 
ica in 1832 he became resident consulting engineer on 
several railroads. His first prominent appointment was 
as constructing engineer for the docks, warehouses, and 
other Government structures at Pensacola, and then he 
secured the position of General Superintendent of the 
Erie Railroad. From 1850 to 1855 he was chief engi- 
neer of the Missouri Pacific system, and then became its 
consulting engineer. From 1856 to i860 he was chief 
engineer of the Nassau Water Works, P)rooklyn, and 
from the latter date he acted as a general consulting 
engineer, with water works as his principal specialty. He 



218 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

took charge of laying "the water mains on Eighth Ave- 
nue, New York, into a rock bed which w'as cut accord- 
ing to his directions, and the work at the time attracted 
much attention among engineering experts on account 
of its difficulty. His latter years were spent mainly in 
Brooklyn, and he was regarded as one of the leaders in 
his profession, and enjoyed the respect and affection of 
a wide circle of friends. His death, in 1877, was the 
occasion for a host of tributes being paid to his services 
and worth by societies, newspapers, and individuals. 

A career which run on somewhat similar lines was 
that of James Laurie, who was born in 181 1 at Bell's 
Mills and settled in America in 1832. In fact, he was 
closely associated with Kirkwood in considerable rail- 
road work, and the two men entertained the warmest 
friendship for each other, until Laurie's death, at Hart- 
ford, Conn., in 1875. His first notable appointment was 
as chief engineer on the Norwich and Worcester Rail- 
road; then he filled a similar office on the New Jersey 
Central Road, and later was consulting engineer in Mas- 
sachusetts in connection with the Housatonic Tunnel. 
As Mr. Kirkwood made a specialty of water works, so 
Mr. Laurie, in time, made a particular study of bridge 
building, and was regarded as the foremost practical au- 
thority on that specialty in America, so that his services 
as consulting engineer on such structures were in con- 
stant demand. Among other of his achievements it may 
be mentioned that he built the wrought-iron bridge over 
the Connecticut River at Windsor Locks, the first of its 
kind in the country. Mr. Laurie was honored by his pro- 
fessional friends by being elected the first President of 
the American Society of Civil Engineers, an organization 
in the founding of which he took a deep interest. 

Donald Craig McCallum was a soldier as well as a 
civil engineer, and during his career did much good 
work in both capacities. He was born at Johnstone, 
Renfrewshire, in 181 5, and emigrated with his parents 
and the rest of his family in 1832. They settled in Roch- 
ester, N. Y., and soon after Donald started in the battle 
of life by learning the tailoring trade. That business did 



SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. 2l9 

not suit liim, and, going to Canada, he became a car- 
penter and studied architecture. Then he returned to 
Rochester, engaged in business for himself as a builder, 
and did fairly well. He took a special interest in rail- 
road and bridge construction, invented what was known 
as the '* inflexible arch truss bridge," and gradually left 
off his building operations to become a constructor of 
railroads and bridges. In 1855 he became General Su- 
perintendent of the Erie Railroad. During the war he 
was appointed director of the military railroads in the 
United States, and in that capacity he not only rendered 
particularly brilliant services at critical periods by mass- 
ing troops at certain strategic points, but he maintained 
the entire service in a state of efficiency that contrasted in 
a wonderfully favorable manner with the disorganized 
condition of many of the other administrative depart- 
ments of the Northern Army. His services with Sher- 
man on that soldier's memorable march to the sea were 
conspicuously valuable and won the highest encomiums 
from all in authority. When the war was over, xMcCal- 
lum, who had enjoyed the rank of Colonel in the United 
States Army, retired from service with the honors of a 
Major General, and until his death, in Brooklyn, in 1878, 
confined his attention to civil pursuits. Gen. McCallum 
v;as more anxious to be known as a poet than a soldier 
(T engineer, and in 1879 issued a small volume contain- 
ing specimens of his muse. They arc full of fine senti- 
ment, lofty thought, sage reflection, and timely admoni- 
tion, and, while no one would award their writer a 
position among the foremost ranks of singers, he deserves 
a marked place among what Mr. Stedman happily calls 
the " general choir." One poem, " The Water Mill," is 
certain to live in literature, but the authorship has been 
questioned by some writers, and the problem, like most 
others of the kind, is a vexing one. The poem, how- 
ever, has generally been attributed to McCallum, al- 
though we are not aware that he ever gave personally 
any information on the subject; but, even if this beauti- 
ful bit of sentiment be taken away from him, enough re- 
mains of his undoubted compositions to entitle him to a 



220 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

vcrv respectable place among' the minor bards of Amer- 
ica. 

A fair representative of the Scottish working engi- 
neer, the men who do their work so well that their serv- 
ices are always in demand, and who are ready to develop 
into heroes or millionaires as time and chance may offer, 
might be found in George M. Wait, who died at Urook- 
lyn in 1894. Jle was a native of Dunse, (Duns they call 
it now,) Berwickshire, and was born in that staid old- 
fashioned town in 1825. After serving his apprentice- 
ship in a " machine shop," he developed into a railroad 
engineer, and then devoted himself to marine engineer- 
ing. He came to America shortly before the outbreak of 
the civil war, and when that cloud darkened the country 
he volunteered his services to the Union Navy. Such 
offers from such men were then gladly received, and Mr. 
Wait found himself enrolled as chief engineer of the 
warship Monticello. One of his most daring acts was 
the cutting of the chains which the Confederates had 
])laced across the Mississippi River to obstruct the Fed- 
eral fleet in its purpose to get near enough to New Or- 
leans to bt^mbard it. Mr. Wait had many narrow escapes 
in the course of his service, but the narrowest of all 
came from his own side, when Gen. Butler in a moment 
of haste ordered Commander Braine (afterward Admi- 
ral) and Chief Engineer Wait to be hanged for disobey- 
ing his orders. The carrying out of these orders was an 
im])ossibility, and P)Utler fortunately recovered his tem- 
])er before the sentences were carried out and came 
round, as gracefully as he could, to Wait's way of think- 
ing on the matter at issue. Wait afterward became chief 
engineer for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and 
his last employment was on some local boats making 
daily excursions from New York Harbor, as he did not 
care about being deprived, as old age began to creep on, 
of the comforts of his own fireside. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 

IT may safely be laid down as a self-evident truth that 
every Scotsman in America who has gained position or 
eminence or wealth, or all three, has worked hard. 
Among the Scotch commnnily, even in the fourth or 
fifth generation removed from the " Land o' Cakes," 
there are no idlers, no " gilded youth," no merely emi)ty 
loungers on the face of the earth. We find vScotsmen 
and their families moving- in the very highest social cir- 
cles in each conununity — among the " Four Hundred," 
to use a ridiculous expression that lias come into use in 
recent years — but they all seem to engage in Imsiness of 
some sort. They do not figure much, if at all, in what 
loves to be distinguished as the " smart set," the butter- 
flies whose only object in the world seems to be to de- 
rive pleasure from it, i)leasure sometimes innocent, some- 
times brutal, sometimes silly, always extravagant, and a 
standing menace to the peace of the community. Idie 
main purpose in life, if there be any ])ur])osc, after all, of 
such creatures is to draw themselves into a class apart 
from the conmion herd, to ape the manners of the aris- 
tocracy of the Old World, and this latter purpose they 
accomplish in such a way as to win the disgust of every 
honest citizen and the contempt of every honest aris- 
tocrat. 

If we designed to devote a chapter to titled person- 
ages in this book, it might easily be done. The advent- 
ures of the members of the liritish peerage alone in 
America would fill many pages and would include sol- 
diers, statesmen, sightseers, hunters and adventurers — for 
even the latter class are found legitimately occupying a 

221 



222 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

line, at least, in the standard peerages. Such a chapter 
would, however, include names like that of Lady Mac- 
Jonald, who enjoys a peerage through the services which 
her late husband, Sir John A. INIacdonald, rendered to the 
Empire; and of Lord Mount Stephen, wdio won his peer- 
age by his own successful and eminently useful life, as 
well as those of many baronets and knights. It would 
also refer to an old title, that of Baron de Longueuil, a 
French title of nobility originally granted by Louis 
XIV., but recognized by Great Britain, The dignity 
was first conferred on a French subject, Charles Le 
Moyne, but as might, somehow, be expected, the pres- 
ent holder of the title, Charles Colman Grant, is more 
entitled to be regarded as of Scotch descent than the 
representative of a French family. The chapter would 
also chronicle the story of an old Scotch title wdiich has 
been so long held by residents of this country that they 
pride themselves as much from their descent from Colo- 
nial ancestors as from their Saxon forbears — Saxons 
who were prominent in England before the advent oi 
the Normans. The title. Baron Cameron of Fairfax, in 
the peerage of Scotland, was bestowed by Charles I. in 
1627 upon Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, an English- 
man. The family never had any connection with Scot- 
land, however, beyond the title, but the name yet stands 
on the roll of the Scottish peers and is still called at each 
assemblage of these peers in liolyrood to elect their rep- 
resentatives in the British House of Lords. The repre- 
sentative of the family, the holder of this ancient title, 
still resides in Virginia, but so far as we can trace he 
and his immediate progenitors, as soldiers, preachers, or 
physicians, have done something to justify their exist- 
ence, have pursued some recognized profession. 

But all this reference to nobility is merely a digres- 
sion by wav of variety in the opening matter of a new 
department of our story. Here Ave have to deal with 
what may be called the nobility of business. To acquire 
eminence in trade, finance, or commerce, especially in 
view of the ever-watchful and sometimes unscrupulous 
competition which prevails in all large business centres. 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 223 

a man needs rare qualities, and a successful merchant is 
generally an individual possessing not only a clear head, 
but a large heart. If we could enumerate the practical 
charitable institutions of the world, group together the 
art galleries, museums, and halls of learning, we would 
find that successful business men, when not their found- 
ers, were their most liberal benefactors. We will get 
abundant evidence of this as the present chapter pro- 
ceeds, and will find also that these same business, money- 
making, men were sterling and self-sacrificing patriots 
whenever occasion arose for the display of that quality. 
Such men are entitled to be called nature's noblemen — 
men who hold their patents of nobilitv from Almighty 
God. 

We could place the life, for instance, of Alexander 
Milne, an Edinburgh man who was long a merchant in 
New Orleans, as a pattern— one which could be sur- 
passed by the product of no other class. After a note- 
worthy and commercially irreproachable career, he be- 
came distinguished for his philanthropy, although the 
world never knew its extent or imagined the amount of 
thought and care he exercised in trying to do as much 
good as possible to his fellow-men. ' Even the good he 
did lived— and lives — after he had passed away, for when 
he died, in 1838, at the age of ninety-four years, it was 
found that he left most of his fortune 'to endow the Milne 
Hospital for the orphan boys of New Orleans. 

In treating of the classes embraced in the title to this 
chapter we are more than ever overwhelmed by the diffi- 
culty of selection. There is hardly a city or township in 
which Scotsmen have not more or less prominently fig- 
ured in its business interests. In financial circles every- 
where, whether in Montreal or New York, they have 
held a front rank, and that might be said also of every 
branch of business. We can only array a few examples, 
selected almost at random, and endeavor to be as repre- 
sentative in each selection as possible. 

The founder of tlie famous town cf Yorldown, Va., 
was Thomas Nelson, who was born in 1677 "i Cumber- 
land, not far from the Scottish border. His parents had 



224 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

moved there from Wigtonshire shortly after their mar- 
riage, and the district was more Scotch in its speech, 
manners, and customs than Enghsh, so that, although 
actually born on what Scotsmen playfully call the 
" wrong side of the Tweed," Nelson was in reality a 
Scot. Indeed, after his arrival in America, about 1700, 
he was generally known as '* Scotch Tom," and appears 
to have been cjuite proud of the appellation. He started 
in business, began at once to make money, and in 1705 
founded the town of York — one of the few really historic 
towns in America — which witnessed the surrender of 
Cornwallis in 1781 and was the scene of a stirring con- 
flict between the forces of McClellan and Magruder in 
1862, during the civil war. Nelson died full of years and 
honors, in 1745, in the town he had founded and which he 
had been spared to see grow slowly and surely. If he 
did not hold high office, he founded a family which has 
made its mark in the history of his adopted State. One 
of his sons, Thomas, w-as a candidate for Governor of 
Virginia, but was defeated by the celebrated Patrick 
Henry, (also of Scotch descent,) and afterward for thirty 
years was Secretary of the Privy Council. Another son, 
William, was President of the Council for a long time, 
and on the death of Lord Botetourt became Governor 
of Virginia and administered its affairs for about a year, 
until the arrival of the Earl of Dunmore in 1771. He 
died a year later, leaving three sons, who all became fa- 
mous. One of these sons, Thomas, who was born in 
Virginia in 1738, was educated partly in America and 
partly at Trinity College, Cambridge. As might be ex- 
pected, he ranged himself on the side of the patriots, and 
as a member of the House of Burgesses was outspoken 
in his condemnation of whatever tended to abridge the 
freedom of the Colonies. " He was a member," says Miss 
M. V. Smith, in her able volume on " The Governors of 
Virginia," " of the Revolutionary Conventions of 1774 
and 1775, and was appointed by the convention in July, 
1775, Colonel of the Second \'^irginia Regiment, which 
post he resigned on being elected to the Continental 
Congress in the same year. H was again called to ad- 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 225 

minister home affairs, and was a prominent member of 
the Virginia Convention of 1776, which met in May to 
frame a Constitution for her Government. Here he of- 
fered a resoKition instructing the Virginia delegates in 
Congress to propose a Declaration of Independence. 
Having been elected one of these delegates, he had the 
satisfaction of seeing the hopes and wishes of his people 
embodied in a crystallized form, and, with unfaltering 
faith in its declarations, set his seal to the historic in- 
strument July 4, 1776." In 1777 he became Commander 
in Chief of the forces in the State, and devoted not only 
his time but his means to the war. In 1781 he was 
chosen Governor of Virginia, but his health was then 
broken. He soon resigned the office, and, retiring to 
Hanover County, resided there in seclusion till his death, 
in 1789. He lost his fortune in the war, sacrificed every- 
thing he had to the State, and the State was too poor to 
recoup him, so his latter years were passed amidst pov- 
erty. But he never complained on that score, and await- 
ed the last roll-call conscious that he had done everything 
a patriot could do to advance and establish his native land. 
Two of Gov. Thomas Nelson's brothers, William and 
Robert, were in the Revolutionary Army, and both were 
captured by Col. Tarleton's forces. When the struggle 
was over, William engaged in the practice of law until 
1803, when he became Professor of Law at William and 
Mary College. On his death, in 1813, he was succeeded 
in that office by Robert, who held it for five years, or 
imtil he died, in 1818. The public services of the family 
were continued, as far as our records go, to the fourth 
generation after " Scotch Tom," for Gov. Thomas Nel- 
son's son, Hugh, A\as a memlier of Congress for A'ir- 
ginia during several terms, and in 1823 was appointed by 
President Monroe United States Minister to Spain. 

The family of Thomas Campbell, author of " The 
Pleasures of Hope " and of " Gertrude of Wyoming," 
had rather an intimate connection with America. His 
father, Alexander Campbell, the son of a landed proprie- 
tor, was born at Kirnan, in tlie parish of Glassary, Ar- 
gyllshire, in 1710. Pie was trained to the mercantile pro- 



226 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

fcssion in Glasgow, and in early life crossed the Atlantic 
and settled at Falmouth, Va., where he engaged in busi- 
ness for several years and acquired considerable means. 
There, too, he made the acquaintance of a countryman 
named Daniel Campbell, afterward his brother-in-law. 
Returning to Scotland, the two Campbells founded the 
firm of Alexander & Daniel Campbell and engaged in 
the Virginia trade. In this they amassed considerable 
wealth and became recognized as among the leading 
merchants in a trade whose very name was then regarded 
as synonymous with opulence. In 1756 Alexander Camp- 
bell married a sister of his partner, and had a fam- 
ily of eight sons and four daughters. One of these sons, 
it' may be said, afterward emigrated to America and mar- 
ried a daughter of Patrick Henry, the great Governor 
of Virginia. Thomas, the poet, the youngest of the fam- 
ily, was born at Glasgow in 1777, but two years before 
that the outbreak of the Revolutionary War had knocked 
away the props of the Campbells' business and the poet's 
father and uncle were practically ruined, the former hav- 
ing lost some £20,000, the savings of a life devoted to 
business. We have no interest here with the personal 
career of the poet, except we choose to speculate how 
far the stories his father may have told of America influ- 
enced him to look for a theme for his muse in the tradi- 
tions of the beautiful Wyoming Valley. An uncle of the 
poet — Archibald Campbell, an Episcopalian minister — ■ 
was located for some time in Jamaica, but settled in 
America about the same time as his brother Alexander. 
He remained in Virginia after his brother left to begin a 
business career in Glasgow, and in time threw in his lot 
with the Colonists when the struggle came which welded 
the Colonies into a nation. He was a much-esteemed 
minister, and had among his parishioners such men as 
Washington and Lee — the famous " Light-Horse 
Harry " of the Revolution. 

Sir William Dunbar, who appears to have belonged to 
the old Banffshire house of Dunbar of Durn, now repre- 
sented by a family in Australia, was a noted personage in 
American business and political circles for many years. 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAT. BUILDERS. 227 

He was born in 1740, and appears to have landed at 
Philadelphia about 1771, just when matters were ap- 
proaching an interesting crisis with the Home Govern- 
ment. In company with John Ross, a once well known 
and prosperous merchant in the Quaker City, and who in 
1774 was honored by being chosen as Vice President of 
tlic local St. Andrew's Society, Dunbar formed in 1773 a 
])artnership for opening a plantation in West Florida. 
The affair did not seem to be a success, and Dunbar 
moved to Baton Rouge, near New Orleans, and finally 
to Natchez, Miss., where he managed to get possession 
of a plantation, and where he died in 1810. He led the 
career of an adventurer and suffered the usual ups and 
downs of fortune incidental to such a career, but his lat- 
ter years seem to have Ijccn pleasant and prosperous. 
He had assumed allegiance to the Federal Government, 
from motives of policy rather than from any deep-seated 
principle, and under it held several important offices. 
He was an intimate friend of Thomas Jefferson, and cor- 
responded willi him at frequent intervals, and to the 
" Transactions " of the American Philosophical Societ}' 
of Philadclpha, of which he was a member, he contrib- 
uted a number of papers on various subjects, all of which 
were considered valuable in their day. 

Among the early merchants of Virginia no name 
stands higher or is surrounded with more honorable as- 
sociations than that of Thomas Rutherfoordof Richmond. 
He was born at Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, in 1766, but was 
educated in Glasgow, where his family removed while he 
was an infant. In that city, too, he received his mercan- 
tile training, and when he reached early manhood he se- 
cured a position in the house of Hawkesley & Ruther- 
foord of Dublin, the junior partner in which was his elder 
brother. In 1784 he was sent by the firm to Virginia in 
charge of cargoes in two vessels, the value of the goods 
being placed at $50,000. He was well recommended to 
the local business men of A'irginia, and among others he 
carried a letter of introduction to George Washington, 
which had been given him by wSir Fdward Neversham, 
then member of Parliament for Dublin. Rutherfoord took 



?28' THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

up his quarters in Richmond, where he opened a branch 
estabHshment to the Dubhn house and cjuickly put it on 
a substantial footing. After some four years spent in 
Richmond he returned to Ireland and was admitted as a 
partner in the firm to which he had proved so faithful 
and profitable a servant. His stay in Ireland lasted only 
about a year, and in 1789 he was once more in Rich- 
mond, which was henceforth to be his home. His busi- 
ness career was a continued round of prosperity, and he 
gradually became regarded as one of the wealthiest and 
most upright merchants of the city. His life was a pleas- 
ant one, although as general merchant, miller, importer, 
and exporter the daily routine of his affairs was for many 
years of the most engrossing description. He invested 
his means largely in Richmond real estate, until he was 
the most extensive owner of that class of property in the 
city, and even this reputation added to his wealth, for 
others, seeing the sagacious Scot sinking his money in 
land, followed his example, and so raised values all 
around. But Mr. Rutherfoord's days vvere not wholly de- 
voted to business; he found time for all the interest in 
the aiifairs of the city that any true citizen should take, 
and his pul^lic spirit and liberality were as conspicuous 
as his wealth. He was bitterly opposed to tariffs or to 
anything that looked like an abridgment of individual, 
state, or national freedom, and the papers he published 
on such questions and on commercial matters attracted 
wide attention. In 1841 he was selected to draft a peti- 
tion to President Tyler protesting against the imposition 
of tariff duties, and the Chief Executive of the Nation 
found in Rutherfoord a man whose sterling honesty, de- 
voted earnestness, singleness of purpose, and native in- 
telligence won his entire respect. Years afterward Presi- 
dent Tyler, when lecturing at Richmond, referred to his 
acquaintance with Rutherfoord in words that evinced his 
high appreciation of the Scottish-American merchant, 
whose earthly career closed at Richmond in 1852. 

John Rutherfoord married an American girl and left 
thirteen children, whose descendants are found all over 
the Union, although principally in Virginia. Of his 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 229 

children the eldest son, John, who was born in Rich- 
mond in 1792, graduated from Princeton College in 1810 
with the degree of M. A. and then applied himself to the 
stud}- of the law. In 1826 he was elected to the House 
of Delegates from the City of Richmond, and in 1830 
was one of the Councillors of State. As senior Council- 
lor, he became in 1841 Acting Governor of Virginia and 
served in that capacity for a year with marked accept- 
ance. Gov. Rutherfoord died in 1866, " leaving," says 
one of his biographers, " the memory of a man of strong 
intellect and vigorous character combined with those en- 
during charms which ever attach to a modest, virtuous, 
and unassuming gentleman.'' 

In the records of the Albany (New York) St. Andrew's 
Society there is a notice of the family of John Stevenson, 
the first President of the organization, which had been 
prepared by one of his descendants and read at the an- 
nual meeting on St. Andrew's Day, 1878. As it is inter- 
esting on account of its tracing a family's history from 
its foundation and also on account of showing how the 
sturdv Scots made themselves at home in America, and 
became regarded as part and parcel of its people, the 
sketch is here reproduced, with only slight curtailment: 

" John Stevenson was born in Albany March 13, 1735. 
His father, James Stevenson, a Scottish gentleman, came 
to America after the 'rising' in 1715. He was a free- 
holder in the city in 1720 and a friend of Robert Living- 
ston, the possessor of large tracts of wild land on the 
Hudson, which by the favor of the ruling powers had 
been erected into a manor. Stevenson was something of 
a military man, and held several responsible local trusts, 
among which was that of receiver of taxes. James 
Stevenson and his son John seem to have had a taste for 
classical and polite literature, if the books they possessed 
be taken as an indication. 

" James Stevenson died Feb. 2, 1769, and was buried 
in the church which then stood on the hill in State Street. 
Plis name appears on the still sonorous old bell, cast in 
1 75 1, which hangs in the tower of St. Peter's. Among 
his Scottish friends in Albanv mav be named Tame. 



230 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Lyndsay, Esq., and Capt. Dick of the army. His son, 
John Stevenson, and Phihp Livingston, one of the Sign- 
ers of the Declaration, were tenants in common of an 
estate of niore than 8,000 acres on the Mohawk, called 
Lilac's Bush. 

" John Stevenson also owned other large tracts of 
land. He married Magdalen, sister of John de Peyster 
Douw, the Chairman of the Committee of Safety in this 
State during the Revolutionary War. He was fitted by 
position, education, and natural abilities for public serv- 
ice, but he preferred a private station. Mr. Stevenson 
was an early stockholder in the Bank of North America 
at Philadelphia, the oldest bank in this country, and also 
in the Bank of New York and the Bank of Albany, now 
defunct, and was a contributor to the foundation of 
Lnion College. 

" John Stevenson died April 24, 1810, aged seventy- 
five years. His only son, James, lived and died in Al- 
bany. He was a patron of the Albany Academy and act- 
ive in securing a supply of good water to the city. A 
daughter of John Stevenson married Dudley Walsh, an 
eminent merchant during the latter part of the last cent- 
ury. During the early settlement of Western New York, 
then called the Genesee country, he advanced to the land 
agent (Williamson) of Sir William Pulteney more than 
£25,000, and, it may also be added, had considerable dif- 
ficulty in getting his money back from that eccentric, 
land-loving, and land-possessing baronet. Another 
daughter of John Stevenson married Gen. Pierre Van 
Cortlandt, a patriot of the American Revolution and one 
of nature's noblemen." 

In the early commercial history of the City of New 
York, Scotsmen, as might be expected, were both nu- 
merous and influential. We have already in the course 
of these pages mentioned several, and the Livingston 
family, the Colden family, the Barclays, the Irvings, were 
all names that once were synonymous with the commer- 
cial story of the city. President William Maxwell of the 
Bank of New York, and one of the founders of the 
Chamber of Commerce, was a native of Scotland, as were 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAI, BUILDKRS. 231 

several other of the founders of the latter institution. 
From a list drawn up by the writer some years ago of 
the leading Scotsmen in New York in 1789 the following 
is extracted: 

Hugh Wallace of the Scotch firm of H. & A. Wallace 
was one of the charter members of the Chamber of Com- 
merce and its Vice President, and another of the charter 
members was Thomas Buchanan, a native of Stirling, 
who used jocosely to claim that he was descended from 
the immortal scholar, teacher, poet, historian, and philos- 
opher, George Buchanan. James Barclay was an im- 
porter at 14 Hanover Square, and Robert Affleck carried 
on business at 60 William Street. Robert Hodge, an 
Edinburgh man, who carried on business as a bookseller 
and printer at 37 King [Pine] Street, was very popular 
in business circles and commanded a large trade. In 
February, 1879, he published '* The Power of Sym- 
pathy," the earliest American novel. Thomas Allen, 
whose place of business was at 16 Queen Street, was the 
representative of a number of British publishers and the 
first agent in America for the Encyclopedia Britannica. 
Samuel Campbell, whose place of business was at 44 
Hanover Square, was a native of Kilbride. He reprinted 
Falconer's " Shipwreck " and many other standard 
Scotch and English works. Another Scotch bookseller 
was Samuel Loudon of 5 Water Street, and the first New 
York edition of Burns's poems was published in 1788 by 
J. McLean. The Scots in the early part of the century 
claimed Cadwallader D. Colden — Mayor in 1820 — as one 
of themselves, although he was born in America, but his 
Scotch descent through his grandfather. Gov. Colden, 
made his heart warm to the tartan. Mayor Colden was 
as patriotic an American as his grandfather was loyal 
as a Briton, and during the three years he sat in the 
Mayor's chair made a grand record for honesty, useful- 
ness, diligence, and administrative ability. He greatl> 
aided De Witt Clinton in advocating the construction of, 
and in the work of building, the internal waterways of 
the State of New York, and was an ardent supporter of 
that statesman's entire policy. 



232 THE- SCOT IN AMERICA. 

An interesting sketch might be written of the career 
of the firm of Boorman, Johnston & Co., which for a 
long time ranked as one of the wealthiest and most en- 
terprising houses in the city. Both partners landed here 
from Scotland about the year 1800— possibly some years 
earlier — without a penny in their pockets, but with plenty 
of Scotch sagacity and Scotch grit and perseverance. 
After a year or two they got on so well that they started 
business in South Street. The exact date of the com- 
mencement of their operations is not known, but the 
War of 1812 found them carrying on business, and ap- 
parently caused them no loss. They mainly imported 
and sold goods from Scotland, their principal article be- 
ing bagging from Dundee. After some time they built 
up a great Southern trade, and most of the tobacco that 
came to this city from Richmond, Ya., was consigned to 
them. Next they added the iron business, and had many 
vessels bringing them iron from Sweden and England. 
Their premises in South Street became too small, and 
they removed to Greenwich Street, where they had what 
was then considered a mammoth establishment. 

In 1827 Mr. Adam Norrie came out from Scotland and 
was admitted a partner in the firm. One of his first acts 
on arriving was to become a member of the St. Andrew's 
Society, his proposer being Mr. John Johnston, the jun- 
ior member of the original firm, and who had been a 
member since 181 1. Mr. Norrie's connection with the 
society was a long, honorable, and useful one, as he 
served as a manager in 1838 and 1839, as a Vic? Presi- 
dent from 1843 to 1850, and as President from 1851 to 
1861. Mr. Norrie quickly made his mark in the com- 
munity. One who knew him well wrote: " New York 
has never seen a more energetic and intelligent mer- 
chant. Scotch to the backbone — that is, filled with ideas 
of stern honesty, sagacity, prudence, and determination, 
Mr, Norrie has never been beat. He probably was re- 
marked for those great mercantile qualities before he 
left Scotland, for with them he also brought to the firm 
he joined a splendid connection and correspondence in 
the Old Country, and greatly added to the business of 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 233 

Boorman, Johnston «& Co." Under Mr. Norrie's direc- 
tion the firm gained immensely in strength, and many of 
its clerks branched out into business for themselves; and 
it was a noticeable feature that to several of these off- 
shoots the parent firm gave up some department of their 
business. Thus Wood, Johnson & Burritt got their dry- 
goods trade, Wilson & Brown their wine importing agen- 
cies, and so on. These young firms were nearly all com- 
posed of Scotsmen. They all enjoyed the confidence 
and good will of their old employers, and most of them 
did well in after years. 

Another famous old house was and is that now known 
as Maitland, Phelps & Co., but which in its early years 
was known simply as Maitland & Co. The business was 
conuncnced before the Revolution by two supercargoes 
in Scottish trading ships. The Maitlands were from the 
south of Scotland. The father of the house, as it exists 
to-day, was David Maitland, and the firm name when 
he was at its head was Maitland, Kennedy & Maitland. 
The office was in Front Street, and Mr. Maitland, being 
a bachelor, lived in rooms which he had fitted up with 
his own notions of comfort in the same building. He 
was a good type of the old Scotch merchant, enterpris- 
ing yet cautious, full of dogged perseverance and indom- 
itable courage, a man of few words, set in his ways, 
brusque in his manner, yet with a kindly heart and a 
desire to see every one get along" in the world. When 
the opportunity came he gave up active business and re- 
tired to some property he had in Scotland, where he 
lived very happily. The business in New York was left 
to his nephew, Stewart Maitland, and he formed a part- 
nership with Mr. Royal Phelps, a gentleman who had 
amassed a fortune in South America, and the firm be- 
came Maitland, Phelps & Co. On Stewart Maitland re- 
tiring his place was taken by James William Maitland, 
who at his death bequeathed handsome legacies to the 
poor in the parishes in Scotland with which the family 
had been connected. The history of this firm, if fully 
told, would fill an ample volume, and would be interest- 
ing reading, so wide were its ramifications and so clearly 



234 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

were its successes the result of sagacity and hard work. 
The business still ranks among' the most respected in 
New York, although none of the jMaitland family is con- 
nected with it. 

Another old firm which is still represented in the busi- 
ness houses of the city, although the name is changed, is 
Barclay & Livingstone. The original firm was Henry 
& George Barclay, and the partners were the sons of 
Thomas Barclay, who was the first British Consul in this 
city. Another son, Anthony, who went in early life to 
Georgia to seek his fortune, succeeded so well in the 
South — after becoming a Colonel and marrying the 
wealthy widow of a Scotsman named Glen — that when he 
returned to New York he was made a partner. He lived 
in a fine house on Dey Street, near Greenwich Street, 
was the aristocrat of the family, and became British Con- 
svd, like his father. The Barclays of the firm all prided 
themselves on being British subjects. They were al\ 
born here, but their father being Consul, they claimed 
that his house was British territory. 

Few are now living who remember the importing firm 
of Gillespie & McLeod, v^'hich llourished between 1825 
and 1835. P)Oth partners were Scotch, but William Mc- 
Leod was particularly enthusiastic about his native land. 
His early life was full of promise. He was descended 
from an old Highland family, and inherited considerable 
wealth through liis father, an officer in the British Army, 
who was killed at Waterloo. McLeod once held a com- 
mission in the army himself, but for some reason he sold 
out when his regiment was in Canada, and settled in 
New York to enter on a commercial career. For some 
years the firm did a large business, for Gillespie, the sen- 
ior partner, was a hard-working and thorough business 
man, which McLeod certainly was not. He was a gen- 
erous, warm-hearted fellow, proud of his birth and his 
Highland ancestry, careless of money, and utterlv im- 
provident. He aimed at being a fashionable leader rather 
than a merchant, and in this aim he certainly succeeded. 
For years he was one of tlie most popular society men 
about town, and had as large and varied a circle of 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 235 

friends as any one in it, while everybody knew him by 
sig;ht. He was an arbitrator in society quarrels, and 
was equally ready to act as a peacemaker as to be a sec- 
ond in a duel. He made one great mistake in his life, 
and that was when he quitted the army for commerce. 
For the latter he was in no way suited, and, though he 
appeared to flourish for a time, his brother merchants 
shook their heads when asked about the prospects of 
the firm, and were very cautious in their dealings with 
it. Gradually the business grew smaller and smaller, 
until one or two wild plunges, made in the hope of im- 
proving matters, ended in bankruptcy and ruin. Mr. 
McLeod took his misfortune with remarkable compos- 
ure. Although he lost his position in fashionable so- 
ciety, and found in his later days that his real friends 
were few, he never murmured. He continued to live in 
New York, and died at a good old age in the old City 
Hotel, which had for years been one of his favorite 
haunts. 

The most noted, however, of the early mercantile fam- 
ilies of the City of New York was that founded by Rob- 
ert Lenox, a native of Kirkcudbright, and belonging to 
a family which had long been famous in the ancient 
Stewartry. One Robert Lenox was shot in 1685 by the 
notorious Grierson of Lagg, the infamous persecutor of 
the Covenanters, of whom no man has ever yet spoken a 
favorable word, although Claverhouse and others have 
had their defenders. Robert Lenox was a Covenanter, 
and " suffered " like so many hundred others for his ad- 
herence to that noble cause. Whether Robert Lenox, 
who crossed the Atlantic about 1778, was a descendant 
from the same family as this martyr or not we cannot 
say, but he and his son certainly showed a devotion to 
the cause of religion that almost tempts one to conclude 
that the same blood flowed through their views. Robert 
Lenox seems to have settled first in Philadelphia, but 
after a year or two removed to New York. He started 
in business as a general shipping merchant at 235 Queen 
Street, and rapidly, for those days, rose to a foremost 
position among New York's merchants. He married a 



236 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

daughter of Nicholas Carmer, a representative of an old 
Knickerbocker family, and so got a recognized place 
among the local aristocracy, while his own countrymen 
admired his executive ability and mercantile standing so 
highly that in 1792 they elected him a Vice President ol 
the St. Andrew's Society, and its President from 1798 till 
1 81 3. Of the Chamber of Commerce he was also Presi- 
dent for many years. 

While Robert Lenox's entire career as a merchant is 
interesting, its most noteworthy incident was his pur- 
chase of the five-milestone farm of about thirty acres 
from the Corporation of New York City. The purchase 
money paid was, comparatively, a trifle, and as the farm 
lay between what is now Fourth and Fifth Avenues and 
Sixty-eighth and Seventy-fourth Streets, every New 
Yorker knows that this land is now among the most 
valuable in the city. Mr. Lenox was firmly convinced 
that this land would " improve " in value, and steadily 
added to its extent as opportunity offered, and in draw- 
ing v:p his will he bequeathed it in such a way that its 
sale for many years was efifectually prevented. When he 
died, in 1840, Mr. Lenox was reputed to be among the 
five wealthiest citizens of New York. Flis only son, 
James, who was born at 59 Broadway, New York, in 
1800, succeeded to his entire estate. James Lenox was 
educated at Princeton, where he was graduated in 1821. 
He studied law, but practiced little, if any, and went to 
Europe soon after his admission to the bar. While there 
he developed his bibliographical and artistic tastes and 
laid the foundation for his future benefaction to his na- 
tive city of a public library. On his return he carefully 
attended to his property, which year by year increased in 
value, but at the same time he was actively engaged in 
thinking out those schemes of public benefit with which 
his name is now associated. He was a man of retiring 
disposition, very sensitive as to public notice, and, while 
he was constantly engaged in doing good, it was in such 
an unostentatious manner that often the recipients of the 
bounty were unaware of its source. His first great bene- 
faction was the site and $250,000 toward the construction 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 23? 

and equipment of tlie Presbyterian Hospital, which was 
opened Oct. lo, 1872. Then he gave the ground on Sev- 
enty-third Street, valued at that time at $64,000, for the 
Presbyterian Home for Aged Women, and in 1874 the 
site for a Presbyterian church on Seventy-third Street. 

The other gifts Mr. Lenox gave to these institutions 
will probably never be fully known, but during his life- 
time none of them suffered for lack of funds."^ In 1870 he 
conveyed ten lots on the crest of a hill overlooking Cen- 
tral Park for the erection of the Lenox Library, and 
built the structure which adorns that site and to which 
he gave his family name. To it, when completed, he pre- 
sented his magnificent collection of books and pictures, 
and augmented since, as it has been, by the funds be- 
(jueathed by him and by other donations, notably that 
from the Stuart estate, it is become one of the choicest 
of the public libraries in America, although its individ- 
uality has been in a measure lost since becoming a part 
of the " New York Public Library — Astor, Lenox, and 
Tilden Foundations." It does not aim at comprehensive- 
ness, but whatever branch of literature it takes up it 
tries to illustrate completely. Thus, of Bibles it has the 
finest collection in the country, from the rare " Maza- 
rin " of Gutenberg and Faust, about 1450, to the Oxford 
Bibles of the present age. There is a set of Shakespeare 
folios and quartos, seven Caxtons, and nearly every 
known edition of Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," Wal- 
ton's " Angler," and Milton's works. The Americana is 
particularly large and valuable, and the collection of 
manuscripts is especially noticeable. The art collection 
is small, but includes a number of Washington portraits, 
and examples of Reynolds, Turner, Gainsborough, Wil- 
kie, Stuart, Leslie, Delaroche, and other modern artists. 
The most conspicuous picture in the collection is Mun- 
kacsy's " Blind Milton Dictating ' Paradise Lost ' to His 
Daughters," the gift of Robert Lenox Kennedy, who 
succeeded Mr. Lenox as President of the library, and 
who, like the present President, John S. Kennedy, was 
ever on the outlook to advance the importance of the 
institution by gift or executive ability. Mr. Lenox died 



238 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

in 1880. Of his seven sisters, only two survived him, and 
the bulk of his property was distributed so as to reach 
these, and ultimately his numerous benefactions. Of one 
thing he was very imperative in the terms of his will, and 
tliat was that no details of his life should be given for 
publication in any form. It is impossible to estimate 
what New York — the poor of New York — owe to the 
deeds of this family, but when we remember that thou- 
sands each year pass through the Presbyterian Hospital 
either as indoor or dispensary patients, we can under- 
stand slightly the good work that is being carried on by 
one agency established through the foresight of the 
father and the benevolence of the son. In this instance, 
too, the educated are equally benefited by the family 
benefactions, for the scholar and man of letters has in 
the Lenox Library access to literary treasures so rare 
and so valuable as to be nowadays beyond the reach of 
purchase. Surely among the things which make up the 
great metropolitan city of America these institutions 
will ever deserve a prominent place and the name of 
Lenox be reverently cherished, not only as that of a 
family of representative Scots, but of men who strove to 
do the utmost good to the city which had become their 
home. 

Equal prominence as public benefactors is due to the 
Stuart family, which may be said to have been founded 
in America in 1805, when Kinloch Stuart settled in 
New York from Edinburgh and started in business as a 
candymaker. He attended closely to his establishment, 
and when he died, in 1826, had not only acquired consid- 
erable means, but was regarded as a substantial mer- 
chant, two reputations which do not always go together. 
His sons, Robert L. and Alexander Stuart, both of 
whom were born in New York, succeeded him and car- 
ried on the business until 1856, during which time the 
confections of R. L. & A. Stuart became famous all over 
the country. In that year they gave up candymaking 
and devoted themselves to refining sugar — they were the 
first, bv the way, to use steam in the process in America 
— and finally retired from business life in 1872 with large 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 239 

lortunes. The rest of their lives were truly spent in do- 
ing good, although the performance of charity was no 
new hobby with them, for from 1852 they had each laid 
aside yearly a stated amount of their income for works of 
benevolence or religion. Alexander died in 1879 and 
Robert L. in 1882, and it has been estimated that joint- 
ly they gave away during their lives over $2,000,000. 
Princeton College and Theological Seminary were lib- 
eral partakers of this bounty, and the New York Presby- 
terian Hospital and the San Francisco Theological Sem- 
inary were enriched by munificent gifts. R. L. Stuart 
was long President of the American Aluseum of Natural 
History, and the early growth of that institution was 
greatly facilitated by his generosity, and as President for 
a time of the Presb3'terian Hospital he did good service 
— service only second to that of the founder himself — to 
the poor of New York. No one, however, knew exactly 
how far the charitable hands of these brothers were ex- 
tended or how many churches, missions, and agencies of 
good, not only in America, but throughout the world, 
were helped by them. 

After R. L. Stuart's death the philanthropic work of 
his life was nobly carried on by his widow, who hence- 
forth lived to be virtually the almoner of her own and her 
husband's wealth. This estimable lady was the daughter 
of Robert McCrea, a wealthy Scotch merchant of New 
York, who died in 1830. The Presbyterian Church in its 
various scheir.es was the recipient of large contributions 
annually, and special occasions were always certain of 
her assistance. To Princeton College she was a princely 
benefactor, founding in it, at Dr.McCosh's special request, 
a School of Philosophy with a gift of $150,000, and that 
was only one of many contributions to the institution. 
To the Historical Society she gave $100,000, to the Half 
Orphan Asylum $100,000. and so on — always generous 
in her contributions. She was invariably giving — and 
giving in secret, for she shunned notoriety or publicity, 
and hardly a day passed that she was not assisting in 
some good work. When she died, at the close of 1891, 
most of her means, v.ient to Princeton, to the various 



240 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Presbyterian Church schemes, and to a host of charities, 
for she had no near relatives. Her books and collection 
of paintings went to the Lenox Library, and those who 
perused her will saw that in the final distribution of her 
wealth she aimed to be as comprehensive in its disposi- 
tion as possible, to aid established and tried agencies, and 
to spread the light of the Gospel as Vi-ell as the blessings 
of education and charity. She used common sense 
throughout her life in her giving, and this good Scotch 
quality was never more apparent than in the instrument 
which contained her instructions for the disposal of her 
" guids and gear. ' 

In the " Statistical Account of Scotland," Vol. I., Page 
495, is the following brief notice of a Scot whose name 
was once well known all over the Eastern States and is 
still prominently remembered in horticultural circles: 
" Mr. Grant Thorburn, seedsman. New York, the original 
' Lawrie Todd,' though a native of Newbattle Parish, 
where he was born on the i8th of February, 1773, lived 
in Dalkeith from his childhood till he sailed for New 
York on the 13th April, 1794. He is a man of great 
piety and worth, though of a remarkably lively and ec- 
centric character. He visited Dalkeith in 1834, when he 
published his ' Autobiography,' which he dedicates with 
characteristic singularity and elegance to Her Grace the 
Duchess of Buccleuch." 

It did not suit the purpose for Mr. Peter Steele, the 
gifted schoolmaster who in 1844 wrote these words, to 
give any indication of Thorburn's career in Scotland. 
Political feeling then ran very high and political resent- 
ment was very bitter, and the teacher could not, had he 
so inclined, say a word commendatory of Thorburn's 
early life withoitt bringing upon his own head the ill will 
of the Buccleuch family and its adherents. So, like a 
canny Scot, he acted the part of the Aberdeen man's 
parrot, which " thocht a guid deal but said naething ava." 
Thorburn learned from his father the trade of a nail- 
maker and became quite an expert at it long before his 
apprenticeship was past. Like most of the Scottish 
workmen of the time — a time when the old order of 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 241 

tilings was fast changing and the governing powers tried 
to quell the popular advance and the political aspirations 
with trials for treason, sedition, and the like — Thorburn 
became deeply interested in politics, and in Dalkeith was 
prominent among those who advocated Parliamentary 
reform and a generous accession to the rights of the peo- 
ple to a voice in the conduct of affairs. The result was 
that when opportunity offered he was arrested for trea- 
son, and, after a short time in prison, was released oui 
bail. This arrest made him a marked man and blocked 
any prospect of his making his way in the world, so, be- 
lieving that the star of freedom blinked bonnily across 
the sea in the new Repuljlic which had thrown off the 
yoke of the same Parliament he iiad protested against, 
Thorburn left Scotland and, settling in New York, tried 
to earn his living at his trade of nailmaking. It, how- 
ever, did not promise much for the future, and in i8oi 
he started in business as a grocer at 20 Nassau Street. 
" He was there," writes Walter Barrett, " some ten or 
twelve years and then he moved to No. 22, and about the 
time of his removal, in 1810, he changed his business 
and kept garden seeds and was a florist. He established 
a seed-raising garden at Newark, but it proved unsuc- 
cessful, and thereafter he confined his attention to his 
business in New York and acquired considerable means." 
From the beginning of his American career almost, 
Thorburn became known for his kindly heart, and he did 
nuich practical good in a quiet way, not only among his 
countrymen, but among all deserving people whose needs 
touched his sympathy or aroused his compassion. For 
many years his store in Liberty Street was not only a 
lounging place for the merchants who bought flowers, 
Init for the practical gardeners who grew them. Flis 
place became a sort of clearing house for the horticultur- 
ists in the citv, and every Scotch gardener who arrived in 
New York from the Old Country made Thorburn's place 
his headquarters vmtil he found employment, and hun- 
dreds used to say that the advice and information they re- 
ceived from l:im at that critical stage in their careers were 
of the n^ost incalculable value to them through life. In 



242 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

1854 Mr. Thorbiirn in a sense retired from business and 
settled in Astoria. From there he moved to Winsted, 
Conn., and finally to New Haven, Conn., where he died 
in 1861. 

Mr. Thorburn possessed considerable literary tastes, 
and, under the notn dc plume of " Lawrie Todd," wrote in 
his later years at frequent intervals for the " Knicker- 
bocker Magazine " and other periodicals. He gave to 
John Gait much of the information which that genius 
incorporated in his story of " Lawrie Todd; or, Settlers 
in the New World," and his published volumes of remi- 
niscences, notably his " Forty Years' Residence in Amer- 
ica " and "Fifty Years' Reminiscences of New York," 
still form interesting reading. So, too, does a now scarce 
volume published in 1848 under the title of " Lawrie 
Todd's Notes on Virginia, with a Chapter on Puritans, 
Witches, and Friends." This book is one of those con- 
tributions to American social history which will become 
of more value as time speeds on, although its importance 
may be more appreciated by the student than by the gen- 
eral reader. 

In Walter Barrett's interesting volumes on " The Old 
Merchants of New York " we find the following notices 
of an old family of merchants, the founders of which set- 
tled in America from Inverary. Says Mr. Barrett: 
" Robert Bruce came out to Norfolk as a protege of the 
Earl of Dunmore, who was then Governor of Virginia. 
The Governor was about to visit the Province of New 
York in an English man-of-war. ' Robert, I want you 
to accompany mie to New York; Norfolk is too small a 
sphere for your mercantile operations. New York will 
be the great commercial city. You must anchor there,' 
were the kind words of Lord Dunmore to Robert Bruce. 
:!: * -^ Accordingly, the young Scotch merchant ac- 
companied Gov. Dunmore to New York. Here he in- 
troduced him to Gov. Golden, who became his friend 
and patron ever after. 

" When Robert had been in the city a few months he 
determined to make it his permanent home, and sent for 
his brother, Peter, to come over from Scotland. At that 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAi. BUILDERS. 243 

time Broadway did not extend up to where Chambers 
Street now is, though Peter Bruce bought a spot of 
ground on the southeast corner of Broadway and Duane 
Street. The brothers were in this city prior to the Revo- 
hition, probably about 1768. Robert was a Tory and 
Peter a Whig" in the wrv times. It is a wonder to me 
how a merchant of that day could be anything else than 
a Tory — particularly in the case of Robert Bruce, who 
had been the protege and had received the warm per- 
sonal friendship of two royal Governors. Probably it 
was a little bit of policy that made Peter a Whig. After 
the war was over they kept their store, in 1784, at 3 
Front Street, and as late as 1795, vvhen they removed to 
120 Front Street. There was a William Bruce who was 
in the grocery business at 129 Front Street. He was 
from Aberdeen. He died in 1798 of yellow fever. 

" Both Robert and Peter died in 1796 within a short 
time of each other. In 1789 the firm of Robert & Peter 
Bruce owned a little vessel called The Friends' Advent- 
ure. She was comn^anded by Peter Parker, and traded 
to Shelburne. At the time John Jacob Astor arrived in 
New York from Germany he found Robert Bruce the 
richest man in the city, as Mr. Astor frequently stated." 
I'^rom these brothers descended a family whose repre- 
sentatives are now to be found in the highest circles of 
the representative houses, not only of New York, but in 
A'irginia and other States. 

Another family of Bruces crossed the Atlantic al)out 
the time these Inverary merchants were passing of¥ the 
stage. The first of this family to settle in America was 
David Bruce, a native of Edinburgh, who landed in New 
York about 1793. His brother, George, followed him 
in 1795. After being employed in several establish- 
ments, the two brothers, in 1806, opened a book store 
and printing office on Pearl vStreet. They scon had a 
fair business, but their success really dated from the da}' 
they published an edition of Lavoisier's " Chemistry," all 
t!ie work in connection with the printing of which they 
did themselves. In 181 2 David revisited Scotland in 
search of matters that might extend their business, and 



244 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

when in Edinburgh mastered the art of stereotyping — 
an Edinburgh invention — and on his return proceeded 
to turn his knowledge to practical account. This led to 
the making of improvements in typesetting, and finally 
to the establishment of a type foundry, which at the 
present day ranks as one of the foremost in the United 
States. Their first stereotyped work — the first in Amer- 
ica — was an edition of the New Testament in bourgeois 
type, and this was followed by an edition of the entire 
Bible in nonpareil. After a most successful career, Da- 
vid Bruce died in Brooklyn in 1857, and George sur- 
vived till 1866, having done more to make American 
type famous for beauty of outline and strength of mate- 
rial throughout the world than any of their contempora- 
ries. 

Philadelphia furnishes us with the names of several 
even earlier Scotch printers, and it is worthy of mention 
here that the first American edition of Burns's poems 
was published in the Quaker City in 1788 — a year after 
the first Edinburgh edition and a few months before the 
first New York edition — by Stewart & Hyde. One of 
the most noted of the Scotch printers and publishers in 
Philadelphia was Robert Aitken, a native of Perthshire. 
He was born in 1724, and, although nothing can be 
learned of his early life, he appears to have been a man 
of considerable education and mental capacity, and thor- 
oughly imbued with republican principles. We first find 
him in Philadelphia in 1769 engaged as a printer and 
active in the then undefined movement which within a 
few years was to buret aside the bonds which united the 
Colonies to the old land. In 1775 he published the 
" Pennsylvania Magazine; or, American Monthly," but 
the times were not propitious for the success of maga- 
zine literature, and after issuing it for eighteen months, 
during which it contained many attractive and timely 
articles — some from the pen of Dr. Witherspoon of 
Princeton — he reluctantly abandoned it. A year later 
his enthusiasm for the cause of the young republic land- 
ed him in prison. In 1782 — a most ill-advised time for 
such a project — he printed the first American edition of 



MERCHANTS AND J.IUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 245 

the English Bible, and lost money by the speculation, 
its title page bears the imprint, " Philadelphia, Printed 
and Sold by R. Aitkin, at Pope's Head, Three doors 
above the Coffee House, in Market Street, 
MDCCLXXXIL," and it has become a very scarce 
book. It is doubted if there are fifty copies in existence, 
and the value of a perfect one is very great. Aitkin was 
the author, or the reputed author, of a work on a com- 
mercial system for the United States, which was pub- 
lished in 1787, and of a number of pamphlets. He died 
in 1802, in the city which had so long been his home. 

Another noted Philadelphia printer was David Hall, 
whose firm — Hall & Seller — printed the paper money 
issued by authority of Congress during the Revolution. 
Hall was born at Edinburgh in 17 14, and thoroughly 
mastered what is called " the printer's art " in his native 
city and in London, to which place he removed shortly 
after his apprenticeship was over. He settled in Phila- 
delphia in 1747, and after working at his trade for sev- 
eral years started in business. Eor a time he had the fa- 
mous Benjamin Eranklin as a partner, but that great 
patriot had then fully entered upon that public career 
whicli was to redound so nobly to his own fame and to 
the welfare and stability of the Nation he did so much to 
found, and so his partnership was of little practical use 
in the business, and the relations between Hall and 
Franklin were soon dissolved. In 1766 he formed the 
copartnership of Plall & Seller, a firm that continued in 
existence long after he had passed away, his own interest 
l)eing taken up by his sons. The firm printed the 
" Pennsylvania (^azctte," and the editorial work was 
done by Hall. It was a model of its kind, and typo- 
graphically and editorially the publication was ahead of 
any of its contemporaries. Hall also conducted on his 
individual account quite an extensive book and station- 
ery store, so th.at he must have been a pattern of indus- 
try — ju.'-t the sort of man whose life ought to have been 
written by Dr. Smiles or included in that author's " Self 
Help." His death took place at Philadelphia, in 1772, 
just as the struggle was fairly opening that was to culmj-- 



246 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

nate in the political independence of the land he had 
made his own, and whose cause had no warmer sup- 
porter. 

Possibly the pioneer Scotch printer in America was 
John Campbell of Boston, who published on April 17, 
1704, the IJoston " News-Letter." the first regular news- 
paper issued in the country. It was a small production 
looked at alongside of the mammoth " blanket " news- 
papers of the present day, but, small as it was, its publi- 
cation involved an amount of thought and care and 
enterprise which stamps John Campbell as having been 
no ordinary man. Campbell was l3orn at Islay in 1653, 
crossed the Atlantic in 1686, and became a bookseller 
in Boston. For many years he was Postmaster of that 
city, and seems to have been held in general esteem. He 
died in 1728. 

Another enterprising newspaper was published before 
the outbreak of the Revolutionary troubles by Robert 
Wells, an Edinburgh man who, in 1754, when in the 
twenty-sixth year of his age, settled down in Charleston 
to make a fortune. One of his first acts was to get en- 
rolled as a member of the St. Andrew's Society of 
Charleston, so that his own land and its associations 
were not to be forgotten, although he had " crossed the 
sea." Wells commenced business as a bookseller, sta- 
tioner, and printer, and for many years his establish- 
ment was the leading literary emporium in the Carolinas. 
His paper, " The South Carolina and American General 
Gazette," enjoyed a large circulation — as circulations 
went in those days. When the RcA^olutionary move- 
ment approached a crisis he declined to throw ofl his 
allegiance to the Crown, and, resigning" his business to 
his son, John, who had no such scruples. Wells returned 
to Britain and died at London, in 1794. While in 
Charleston he wrote for his amusement a " Travestie of 
Virgil," and he seems to have been a person of consid- 
Tvpble attainments, a self-educated and self-made man. 

As we have lingered so long among printers and book- 
sellers, we may be pardoned for continuing here to write 
of them down to a period beyond that intended to be 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 247 

covered at this stage of this chapter. Having dwelt on 
the beginning of the business of typography, we may as 
well go on to see its highest development. This was 
In-ought about, it may be said, through the life-long 
labors and learned as well as artistic zeal of John Wil- 
son, the founder of the still-famed Wilson Press of 
Cambridge. John Wilson was born at Glasgow in 1802. 
His parents Avere of humble position, his early education 
scant, and early in life necessity compelled him to adopt 
a trade, and by accident or from inclination he became a 
printer. Nothing shows the character of the lad better 
than the fact that despite his " short schooling " and the 
long hours which his occupation demanded, he devel- 
oped into a man of very considerable learning and an 
adept in Greek, Latin, French, and other languages. 
Leaving Scotland about 1824, he went to Belfast, and 
there showed that he thought of more than the mere 
mechanism of h.is business by publishing in 1826 a small 
" Treatise on Grammatical Punctuation." a work which 
was afterward (in 1850) rewritten and republished in 
r>oston, and which has since been accepted as the stand- 
ard work on the subject, so much so that over twenty 
editions have been published since the author's death. 

In 1846, after many other migrations, Wilson settled 
in I'oston and began business for himself at his trade. 
jMoving from the city subsequently to its suburb of Cam- 
bridge, he founded the firm of John Wilson & Son and 
did a large business — a business of that high class that 
l)rought into constant practical service his lingual ac- 
quirements. A gTcat deal of his business lay with 
Harvard University and with the writings of its pro- 
fessors and instructors, and this connection gained for 
him, in 1866, the well-merited oflficial acknowledgment 
of the degree of Master of Arts. In his religious belief 
INIr. W^ilson was a stanch LTnitarian, and wrote several 
volumes and pamphlets in defense of the principles of 
that body — of the school, rather, of which the gifted 
Channing was the leader. 

Mr. Wilson was constantly engaged in perfecting the 
details of his business in all departments, and for many 



248 THE SCOT IN AMFRICA. 

years no establishment could turn out more perfect work. 
His proofreading" was a model of accuracy, and in the 
printing" of wood cuts he was especially successful. For 
a long time his ofihce was the only one in America that 
could print a book in Greek with any degree of accuracy, 
and in the classics he attempted to rival the beauty and 
correctness of the Foulis Press, which made his native 
city so famous in the annals of typography. To the end 
of his career Mr. Wilson was a devoted Scot, growing 
prouder, it almost seemed, of his native land as the years 
sped on and it became to him simply a reminiscence. 
From the moment he could read, almost, he became a 
student of the poems of Robert Burns; and as early as 
1837, while still in Belfast, he contributed a well-written 
and appreciative essay on the life and character of the 
poet to an edition of Burns's writings printed in that city 
that year. Fie also delivered a noteworthy address oa 
the bard in Boston in connection with the centenary 
celebration of 1859. Mr. Wilson closed his useful and 
honorable life — honorable equally to Scotland and Amer- 
ica — in 1868, at Cambridge. 

Our next illustration had to deal v/ith books, not as a 
writer or manufacturer, but simply, for the most part, as 
a dealer, although he knew the contents of the books he 
sold more intimately than many who professed superior 
learning, and though his name appeared as publisher on 
the title pages of several volumes. This was William 
Gowans, long the most famous of New York booksell- 
ers, whose stock for variety and value was only equalled 
by those of some of the old-established emporiums in 
London or on the Continent. Gowans was born at 
Lesmahagow in 1803, died in New York on Nov. 27, 
1870, and was buried a few days afterward in Woodlawn 
Cemetery, where a plain stone marks his resting place. 
At the funeral services the Rev. Dr. John Thomson, 
long pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in New 
York and afterward a minister at Grantown, Scotland, 
delivered an appropriate address, in which he said: 

" William Gowans, well known— few men _ better 
known— among the men of literature, not only in New 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 249 

York — a city of no mean literary excellence — but also 
over all the land, has stood amongst ns, facile prijiccps, 
as a peculiar man. A native of Scotland, having been 
born in the parish of Lesmahagow, in the county of 
Lanark, in the year 1803, he immigrated with the family 
to Philadelphia in the year 1821. In various situations 
he spent the succeeding years until 1830, when he began 
his career as bibliopole in Chatham Street, in this city. 
Between the little store and little stock in Chatham 
Street and the thronged passageways of 115 Nassau 
Street, tapestried — I had almost said padded and paved 
— with books — one will say what a change! Yes, but 
how many changes are embraced between two such ex- 
tremes? Another generation has risen and has buried 
that that first patronized the bibliopole. Authors have 
iDcen born and have written their n:imes on the grand 
historic tablets and have since died. Authors long dead 
and buried out of sight have been disinterred and, silent 
for centuries, have spoken again, and modern life hears 
their speech and lives their laborious days over again, all 
since tliat young Scotsman fathered the store in Chat- 
ham Street. Since then bookselling has become a mar- 
velous and mightily honorable trade, and one only yet 
in its infancy, for it has not a State or a few States, but 
a continent, to compass and an appetite insatiable to 
]:)rovide for. William Gowans was a dealer in books. 
Aye, so will some most pitiful dealers in money repre- 
sent him and all such as he. Tint lie was more. He was 
not so much a dealer in books as a dealer zvith books. 
To know them, their authors, age, spirits, range, and 
bearing was not his labor or life task; it was his delight 
and high enjoyment. Among books, old and rare, and 
the rarer and older the more agreeable the work for him, 
William Gowans was the antitype of Old Mortality 
among the tombstones. It was his higli calling to bring 
out into the light of modern life what time and ignorance 
were fast in conspiracy to waste away." 

Two more illustrations, each still nearer to our day, 
and we will leave the makers of books. ( )ne of these we 
select is Henry Ivison, whose firm was for years fore- 



250 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

most in New York in the publication and dissemination 
of school-book literature. Mr. Ivison was born at Glas- 
gow in 1808, and settled in America, with his parents, 
when twelve years of age. He acquired a knowledge of 
the book trade as apprentice to William Williams, book- 
seller in Utica, and in 1830 started business on his own 
account in Auburn. He remained there for sixteen 
years, and not only was in comfortable circumstances, 
but accumulated a little money. Then, in 1846, he ac- 
cepted the ofTer of a partnership with Mark H. Newman 
of New York, and removed to that city. 

The copartnership was a pleasant and profitable one 
from the start, ancl of one scries of books — Sanders's 
Readers, the first consecutive series of school readers 
published in America — the sales were enormous. Of the 
" Primer," the first of the five in the series, never less 
than 100,000 copies were ordered printed at one time for 
cjuite a number of years. In 1852 the partnership was 
renewed, and the firm became known as Newman & 
Ivison, but within a year, through the death of the senior 
partner, the entire management passed into Mr. Ivison's 
hands. The firm afterward was reorganized several 
times, and bore the names of the partners who subse- 
quently became associated with him — one of these part- 
ners being H. F. Phinney, a son-in-law of J. Fenimore 
Cooper — and it did business under the firm name of Ivi- 
son, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. in 1881, when Mr. Ivison 
retired, leaving his interest to his son. After retiring 
from business, Mr. Ivison led a quiet and happy life be- 
tween his city home in New York and his country resi- 
dence at Stockbridge, Mass. But his career of useful- 
ness still continued. As a Trustee of the Union Theo- 
logical .Seminary, an Flder in the Fifth Avenue Presby- 
terian Church, and in many other directions he had 
])lenty of scope for his energies and for the exercise of 
that business shrewdness which was his distinguishing 
characteristic throughout his career. He died after a 
brief illness, in New York, in 1884. 

Our last " examplar " in tliis section, Robert Carter, 
was for years the leading publisher of religious — thor- 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 251 

oughly orthodox — literature in New York, and in his 
carher years he sliowed a degree of enterprise and of re- 
Hance on his own judgment which few rehgious-book 
pubhshers have shown in the history of the trade. Mr. 
Carter became a bookseher and pul:)hsher by force of 
circumstances rather than anything else, for he was de- 
signed by his parents, and the design was seconded by 
his own inclinations, to be a teacher. He was born at 
Earlston, not many miles from Abbotsford, in 1807. His 
own education was, it might be said, not much more 
than begun when in 1822 he opened a night school in 
one of the rooms of his father's cottage for the young 
lads of the neighborhood, and at the same time w-as ap- 
plying himself diligently to a study of Latin and Greek, 
assisted by a cousin some years older, who had been at 
college. In 1827 he entered upon the l)attle of life by 
securing a position as teacher in a grannnar school at 
Peebles. From the money earned during the two years 
spent in that work he saved enough money to spend a 
session at the University of Edinburgh. Mr. Carter 
landed in New York in 183 1, and for over three years 
was engaged in teaching, latterly in a school of his own, 
but in 1834 he conunenced his real career by leasing a 
store at the corner of Canal and Laurens Streets and 
entering into business as a seller of books. It was a 
fairly successful venture, but too slow for the young- 
merchant, and he resolved to try his hand at publishing. 
His first experiment was a book which it is safe to say 
no other publisher in America would have risked a cent 
of money or a moment's consideration on — " The Atone- 
ment and Intercession of Jesus Christ," by Dr. William 
Symington. The venture hung fire at first, but one gen- 
tleman bought 100 copies for distribution, another wrote 
a warm eulogy of the book for a religious paper, and 
gradually the entire edition disai^peared. 

This book brought Mr. Carter into notice in religious 
circles, and his ])usincss steadily increased. In 1841 he 
revisited Scotland in search of business connections and 
books to sell, and while there bought a copy of the 
earlier volumes of D'Aubigne's " Historv of the Ref- 



252 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ormation," which he republished immediately on his 
return, and which reached a sale of over 50,000 copies. 
In 1848 Mr. Carter assumed as partners his brothers, 
Peter and Walter, and under the style of Robert Carter 
& Brothers the firm moved to 258 Broadway, and in 
1856 to the building" at the corner of Spring Street and 
Broadway, which continued to be its place of business 
until it went out of business, after the death of its 
founder. 

Early in his business career Mr. Carter made two reso- 
lutions to which he adhered steadfastly — to make all 
purchases for cash and to give no notes. Therefore, he 
always knew " where he stood," wdiatever the condi- 
tions of trade or general business. Then no book was 
ever published whose religious teaching was not unim- 
peachal)lc. The mere fact of there being " money " in 
a publication was in itself no consideration, and, unless 
Robert Carter and his brothers were perfectly certain 
that a book was strictly orthodox, that its teach.ings were 
helpful, that son:e benefit vv'as to be gained by its pe- 
rusal, no thoughts of sale would tempt the firm's imprint 
to appear on the title page. Some even good men 
averred that in all this the Carters were too particular, 
and a story used to be told that Robert Carter once tooi< 
home a manuscript to read, and was delighted with it, 
talked about its early chapters to his friends with en- 
thusiasm, and had made arrangements to print it, but 
when he came to the last pages lie saw some stains that 
led him to believe the writer had been smoking when he 
penned them, and as part of the stcry had shown the 
evils of tobacco he -returned the manuscript at once, be- 
cause he thought the writer was not an honest man. 

A Presbyterian of the strictest school, accepting hum- 
bly all the canons of that denomination, even those which 
are most sneered and laughed at, Mr, Carter was a bit- 
ter foe of hypocrisy and cant, and was intolerant of dis- 
honesty in any form. For, although it is the common 
practice to charge such men as he with narrow-minded- 
ness and intolerance, a more unfounded error never ac- 
quired popular belief. The most intolerant, bigoted. 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAT. BUILDERS. 253 

self-conceited prig- to be found in any community is the 
professed infidel, who always avers that he sees no good 
in any man's opinion which differs from his own, and is 
either sneering or gibing or denomicing any views held 
by his fellow-men which do not square with those senti- 
ments which, generally for a fee or an advertisement, he 
is always proclaiming in season and out of season. Tht 
truly religious man honors all sorts of sincere beHef, and 
this was the case with Robert Carter. He cared nothing 
for controversial Hterature — it never figured in his list of 
publications, but that list was wide enough to include 
literary examples from every evangelical denomination. 
We have many examples in the trade history of New 
York of men achieving distinction in the common call- 
ings of life — the callings which could not be dignified 
with the title of professions — and it is the same in all 
centres of population. For many years the official time- 
keeper of New York, as he might be called, was a Scots- 
man, and in the old houses of the city no furniture is 
more prized than that made by Duncan Phyfe, a native 
of Cdasgow, who was for many years at the head of the 
furniture-making trade in America. Even to-day his 
handiwork stands out as solid, as clear cut, and as beau- 
tiful as when it first left his workshop, although, for very 
evident reasons, undoubted examples of his skill are 
yearly becoming more scarce. We can easily believe, 
however, that he made a special study of every article he 
manufactured, that the workmanship, even where con- 
cealed, was honest, and everything was made to last, 
rather than merely to sell — as is the fashion nowadays. 
Duncan Phyfe was born in 1770, and, with his parents, 
emigrated to America in 1783, just after he had got 
through schooling. Where he learned the trade of a 
cabinetmaker is not known. It is possible he had even 
started to imderstand its mysteries before he left Scot- 
land, but about 1796 he conmienced business for him- 
self, and continued steadfastly at work, at the bench and 
the designing board, imtil 1850, about which year he 
died. " In that time," says one record, " he made a vast 
deal of excellent and beautiful mahoganv furniture, in- 



2.34 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

eluding pieces of all sorts and sizes. Chairs were his 
specialty. A dozen well-authenticated Duncan Phyfe 
chairs sold not long ago at $22.50 each. He also made 
card tables with richly carved tripods provided with an 
internal mechanism that caused the legs to spread or 
collapse, as desired. The simplest carving on his small 
chairs was wrought with the utmost care and precision, 
while the more elaborate carvings on the larger pieces 
were marvels of the art. The renovation of Duncan 
Phyfe's work is expensive, because of the care and time 
required. Phyfe was fond of introducing the figure of 
the lyre into his furniture. It appears in chairs, in swing- 
ing mirrors, and in various pieces, large and small. lie 
seldom chose to mark his work, and only experts arc 
able now to recognize it. 

" As Phyfe used to employ fully one hundred of the 
most skillful journeyman cabinetmakers in New York, 
and as his furniture was of tlie most durable sort, there 
is still a great deal of his v/ork in existence. It is sel- 
dom for sale, and when any of it is sent to the auction 
room it is usually disposed of at private sale. A maiden 
lady who died a few years ago at the age of ninety-four 
left behind her a full set of Duncan Phyfe furniture, the 
gift of her father when she was a girl of eighteen. The 
set was reproduced in mahogany by a German cabinet- 
maker, and imitations of it are to be found in some of 
tlie more fashionable stores." 

Among the hundreds of Scots who have been promi- 
nent in St. Louis, probably no name stands out in bolder 
relief or is held in more pleasant remembrance by tlie 
older residents than that of John Shaw, who died at his 
residence near that city, in 1878, at the advanced age of 
eighty-eight years. It is worth while dwelling on Mr. 
.Shaw's career and idiosyncrasies, because the detads 
show how many transformations may happen in a man's 
life between the cradle and the grave, and because in all 
he said and did he was most characteristically Scotch. 
John Shaw was born in Edinburgh Castle, where his 
father, a soldier, resided with his wife in the barracks. 
His parents removed to Grantown, in the north, and 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 255 

his early years were spent there. While yet a boy he 
entered the army, and was engaged in the Spanish cam- 
paign which resulted in the retreat upon Corunna and 
the death of Sir John Moore. He obtained his discharge 
shortly before the battle of Waterloo, and, returning to 
Grantown, began an apprenticeship as a stonemason, in 
which business nearly all his after life was spent. When 
his apprenticeship expired he wandered all over Scot- 
land and the North of Ireland to acquire experience and 
skill in his trade. After leading a life of this kind for 
some time he married and returned to Grantown, where 
some of his children were born. 

Turning his steps westward, Shaw landed in America, 
and settled in St. Louis about 1842. His life there was 
that of an active and energetic master builder. All for 
whom he worked had the greatest confidence in his 
ability, and he soon became the head of his branch of 
business. Many of the best buildings in St. Louis are 
llie result of his skill. Among others were the founda- 
tion of the old Post Office, the Mercantile Library Hall, 
the Old Lindell, and numberless stores and residences of 
all sizes. In 1862, finding himself possessed of a com- 
petency, he retired from business, and, purchasing a 
large tract of land in Franlclin County, Mo., settled 
there and engaged in the quiet life of a farmer. 

" Mr. Shaw," wrote one who knew him well, shortly 
after his death, " was a man of marked force of charac- 
ter, decided in his opinions, and often severe in his judg- 
ments. To a stranger he may have appeared bluff and 
brusque in manner, but it was merely on the surface, for 
any of those who enjoyed his acquaintance knew that he 
possessed many kindly qualities and a warm, generous 
heart. In enthusiasm for his native land (which he twice 
revisited after making his home in St. Louis) he was 
really ' second to none.' He was a diligent and careful 
reader, and, while well informed upon all subjects, he 
took a special interest in the history of the Highland 
clans, and could tell many thrilling stories of their fights 
and feuds. Of what he called his own clan he felt par- 
ticularly proud, and jocularly claimed that he was its real 



256 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

chief. As became a thorough Highlander, he had a 
good deal of the Jacobite in his nature, and felt a gen- 
uine contempt for the memory of ' the wee, wee German 
lairdie.' To sum up, he was as thorough a Scotsman as 
if he had never left the soil. All his standards of com- 
parison were there, and his great delight ever was to 
recall the scenes and memories, the history and tradi- 
tions, the wit and wisdom of ' Auld Scotland.' " 

Turning to Chicago, we are confronted with an array 
of names prominent in every walk to which a volume 
would hardly do justice. As a fairly representative ca- 
reer we select that of George Smith, who, in 1839, estab- 
lished the first bank in the city. Mr. Smith was born at 
( )ld Deer, Aberdeenshire, in 1808, and was intended for 
the medical profession. After studying two years in 
Aberdeen University his health failed, and, believing that 
an active outdoor life was necessary for his constitution, 
he turned his attention for a time to farming, with the 
most beneficial results. But he had no desire to resume 
his professional studies, and, crossing the Atlantic, in 
1833, " went West," before that phrase became current, 
and entered upon a business career. Chicago was then 
not only decidedly far West, but it was little more than 
a village, yet Mr. Smith believed that its geographical 
position insured it a grand future. In 1834 he com- 
menced dealing in real estate, and bought up as many 
lots as he could within the then limits of the city. Be- 
lieving that the then newly conceived City of Milwaukee 
might be a close rival to Chicago, or, at all events, an 
ecjually prosperous city, he invested largely in its lots 
and sold out his Chicago holdings in 1836 at a consid- 
erable profit, one-quarter of the price being in cash and 
the rest in notes. A tide of commercial depression, how- 
ever, swept over the place the following year, and, as his 
notes were unpaid, Mr. Smith had to resume possession 
of his Chicago lots. He ultimately lest nothing by the 
transaction, "however. In 1839 ^^e helped to obtain a 
charter for the Wisconsin Fire and Marine Insurance 
Company, which was then established with himself as 
President, and the late Alexander Mitchell as Secretary. 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL, BUILDERS. 257 

The latter really was the practical head of the corporation 
from the beginning, for Mr. Smith soon started the Chi- 
cago banking establishment of George Smith & Co., 
the pioneer of the great financial institutions which now 
adorn that city. His Chicago and Milwaukee interests 
proved veritable gold mines, and in 1852 Mr. Smith 
began to think seriously of retiring from business cares 
and enjoying the fruits of his business career free from 
all commercial worriments and entanglements. The first 
step was the disposal of his interest in the Milwaukee 
bank to Mr. Mitchell, whose business sagacity had raised 
the institution to a high eminence among the financial 
concerns of the Northwest, and bit by bit he steadily 
closed up all his other active business interests. These, 
however, were so many and so intricate that the task of 
unloading judiciously was by no means an easy one, and 
it was not until 1861 that Mr. Smith found himself free 
from all entanglements and ready to enter upon his plan 
of rest. He then retired to Great Britain, where he still 
enjoys the fruits of his years of business activity. 

We may take a more recent illustration from the town 
of South Chicago, now a part of the big city, although it 
seems to preserve its individuality. John Oliver, who 
died there in August, 1894, was a notable figure in many 
ways. Born at Riccarton, Ayrshire, in 1835, he was ed- 
ucated in the Kilmarnock Academy, and settled in Amer- 
ica when fifteen years of age, with no capital except his 
brains. He began his business career as a bookkeeper 
with a Chicago lumber firm, and remained with the con- 
cern for several years. Then he entered into business for 
himself and pegged away until he was rated among the 
millionaires of Chicago. After he retired from the lum- 
ber business he confined his attention to his real estate 
interests, and spent the evening of life in a quiet and 
pleasant manner, enjoying the good wishes of his friends 
and business acquaintances, among whom w'ere many of 
the pioneers of Chicago. 

We have already spoken of Alexander Mitchell of Mil- 
waukee in connection with his one-time partner, George 
Smith, and it is fitting now to enter more at length into 



258 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the wonderful career of that truly typical Scotsman. Mr. 
JNIitchcll was born at Ellon, Aberdeenshire, in 1 817. 
He had two years of experience in financiering- in a 
banking house in Peterhead, experience which was of 
tl:e utmost service to him in after life. In 1839 ^^^ ^^^^ 
Scotland, and, settling in the then " paper " city of Mil- 
waukee, grew up with it. Not only that, for, as the man- 
ager of the Marine and Fire Insurance Company, he 
had a good deal to do with making the city grow. The 
bank early acquired a reputation for honesty, liberality, 
and thoughtfulness in its dealings. It entered into no 
wild-cat schemes, fostered every legitimate industry, 
pinned its faith to Milwaukee as a centre of commerce, 
and won. All over the Northwest the banking institu- 
tion was famous, and " as sound as Mitchell's Bank " 
l^assed into a common saying. But Mr. A^itchell did 
not rest content with being simply a banker. He saw 
that the resources of the Northwest had to be developed, 
and this led him into railway schemes, mitil the magni- 
tude of these operations eclipsed his banking interests, 
while at the same time they fed them. Bit by bit he be- 
came the builder, promoter, or financier of a series of 
railroads which was aimed to reach through the North- 
west and to open new avenues of commerce, until under 
the general name of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 
Railroad, these systems are now regarded as among the 
r.:ost important in America. 

Mr. Mitchell served in the United States House of 
Representatives from 1871 to 1875. and thus acquired a 
national reputation, and on his retirement from political 
life went on calmly with what was the real l)usiness of 
liis career — the development of Milwaukee. He died at 
New York City, while on a visit, in 1887. 

Mr. INTitchell was one of those far-seeing- men who 
can forecast the future successfully, who can weigh a 
thousand contingencies, and, having- figured out their 
value or possibilities, hold on to that figuring with all 
the energy and determination which are necessary to 
win success even under the most brilliant circumstances. 
He saw that the possibilities in the way of the develop- 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 259 

ment of the Northwest were practically unlimited and 
that means of transportation were the first as well as the 
all-important requisites to bring about that development, 
and to furnishing transportation he devoted himself. 
i\Iany laughed at the energy with which he threw a bit 
of railroad line into a practically unoccupied territory, 
but the business soon followed the railroad wherever it 
was, and justified the wisdom of its builder. In financial 
matters his foundation was honesty. He knew that 
there was no royal road to wealth, that all schemes for 
getting rich quickly were wrong in theory, and would, 
sooner or later, end in smoke. He had no patience with 
wild-cat banking, with financial gambling under any 
name, and his conservatism in this respect, sometimes 
galling to the " go-ahead " ideas of many of the business 
men of the West, leavened the whole trade of Milwaukee 
and made its progress more substantial than that of 
most Western towns. Busy as his life was, and thor- 
oughly American as were its varied interests, Mr. Mitchell 
never forgot the land of his birth. To everything Scotch 
in his adopted city he was a liberal giver, and at the an- 
nual gatherings of his countrymen — on St. Andrew's Day 
or in the outdoor reunion of each Summer — he was al- 
ways one of the most enthusiastic participants, and took 
almost a boyish delight in meeting and greeting his " ain 
folk," whatever their station in life might be. 

In the afifairs of the bank, Mr. Mitchell was assisted 
by Mr. David Ferguson and many others from " the 
Land o' Cakes," but in his latter years his mainstay was 
his nephew, Mr. John Johnston, a native of Aberdeen 
and a graduate of its university. Mr. Johnston, soon 
after his arrival in Milwaukee, began to take an active 
interest in municipal as well as financial afifairs, and once, 
indeed, refused a nomination as Mayor of the city when 
the nomination was equivalent to election. Mr. Johnston 
proved himself to be a scholar as well as a banker, and 
was recognized as one of the literary lights of the city. 
This led to his appointment as one of the Regents of the 
Wisconsin State University, as President of the Wiscon- 
sin Historical Societv, and to many other honors of a 



260 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

like nature. In the Scotch community he soon became 
a leader, and in such games as curling, cjuoits, and oth- 
ers that smacked of the old land he was an adept. Be- 
sides serving as President of the Grand National Curling 
Club of America, he was one of the founders of the 
Northwestern Curling Association and its chief executive 
officer. At his death, in 1887, Mr. Mitchell left one- 
third of the stock of the bank to Mr. Johnston. The busi- 
ness continued to increase to such an extent that Mr. 
Johnson felt there should be an augmentation of the 
beard of directors. Some of his colleagues held different 
views, and, as a result of the variety of opinions, Mr. 
Johnston retired, in 1892, in the prime of life, intending to 
spend his time at his books or his outdoor amusements. 
But the financial crisis of 1893, which involved Mitchell's 
Bank, as so many others, called him back to his desk, and 
he once more cheerfully went into harness, with the most 
beneficial results to all concerned, and to the general sat- 
isfaction of all business circles in Milwaukee. 

We may here turn, for the sake of variety, to find an 
illustration of the Scot in agriculture. One case in par- 
ticular is peculiar, inasmucli as the individual was pos- 
sessed of a competency before settling in America. 
George Grant, a native of Speyside, made a large fortune 
in London as a silk merchant. Then he desired to do 
something practical to benefit other men, and hit upon 
the device of organizing a British colony in Kansas. His 
first purchase was a tract of land containing 69,120 acres, 
to which he gave the name of Victoria. To this tract he 
afterward added a large number of acres. The first set- 
tlers arrived in May, 1873, and so rapid was the growth 
of the settlem.ent that there was not, at the time of his 
death, in 1887. an acre of land for sale within ten miles 
of Victoria on the south. None of the settlers were al- 
lowed to purchase less than 640 acres. Mr. Grant began 
with a flock of 3,555 breeding ewes and 60 long-wooled 
English rams of the highest pedigree, and in 1874 his 
wool alone brought $11,700, in Boston, at 33 cents per 
pound. In the management of his vast concerns Mr. 
Grant displaved great activity, and a remarkable busi- 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 2G1 

ness aptitude. His efforts were successful in a very emi- 
nent degree, and he enjoyed largely the confidence and 
esteem of those who had business or private associations 
with him. The Scotch farmer in America is generally 
successful and instances of this success might be drawn 
from the local histories of every county on the continent. 
Monument builders are not very numerous in any 
country, except we include such people as build monu- 
ments "to themselves, and therefore it would seem that 
those who erect memorials to others, mainly on patriotic 
grounds, are deserving of the highest meed of praise. 
The Scots in America have done their share m this re- 
gard if we estimate what they have accomplished com- 
pared with that of other nationalities whose numbers 
o-reatly exceed theirs. One of the most striking statues in 
die "Monumental City" of Baltimore, on a commanding 
iwsition in Druid Park, is the huge figure of Sir William 
Wallace, Scotland's popular hero, which is referred to m 
an earlier chapter. The donor of the statue to Balti- 
more Mr. William Wallace Spence, was born at bdm- 
Inirgh in 1815, left his native land in 1834. and went to 
Norfolk Va., where he obtained a situation with the old 
Scotch firm of Robert Souttar & Sons, who were then 
largely engaged in the West India trade. One of the 
local papers at Baltimore, in reviewing Mr. Spence s ca- 
reer at the time the statue of Wallace was presented to 
the citv in 1893, gave the following particulars as to his 
career-'" While in the employ of Messrs. Souttar, Mr. 
Spence became well acquainted with their trade, spending 
several months in the West India Islands to gam addi- 
tional knowledge of it. For two years he was m busi- 
ness for himself in Norfolk, and then, in 1841, came to 
Baltimore, commencing business with his brother, J olin 
F Spence under the firm name of W. W. Spence 6c Co. 
In 184Q Mr. lohn F. Spence went to San Francisco to 
open a house there, and in the same year Mr. Andrew 
Rcid came to Baltimore from Norfolk and became asso- 
ciated in business with Mr. Spence under the firm name 
of Spence & Reid. The firm remained in business for 
twenty-five years, when both its members retired. I^or 



202 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the past twenty years Mr. Spence has been largely inter- 
ested in purely financial affairs. He was for many years 
President of the St. Andrew's Society, is President of the 
T^resbyterian F-ye, F.ar and Throat Charity Hospital, and 
of the b^.genton Orphan Asylum. Mr. Spence is an act- 
ive mendjcr of the First I'resbvterian Church, and for 
nearly forty years has been a ruling' Elder.'" 

P>ut Mr. Spence is not the only Scot whose patriotism 
has raised a monument in America to one of his coun- 
trymen. That labor of love had a precedent in i8(S8, in 
Albany, when the Burns Monument there was unveiled 
through the exertions of Mr. Peter Kinnear. Mr. Kin- 
near, who is a native of r)rechin, and was born there in 
1826, came to this country in 1847, '^"^l ^f^i' ni^my years 
carried on business in Albany as a brassfounder, accjuir- 
ing a handsome competence as a result of his labor, and 
then taking a warm interest in various business matters 
in his adopted city, as well as developing activity in 
numicipal affairs. For many years he was active as an 
official in all the Scotch organizations in Albany — St. 
Andrew's Society, r)Urns Club, and Caledonian So- 
ciety — in everything Scotch except curling; he drew the 
line at that. The St. Andrew's Society was his favorite 
organization, and he served it for many years as Secre- 
tary, and for several terms was its President and chief 
spirit. His connection wnth that venerable society 
brought him into close relations with all his country 
people in Albany of whatever degree, and that, coupled 
with his enthusiastic admiration for his country's bard, 
led to the erection of what had long been one of his 
dreams — the statue of Purns which now graces the 
beautiful Washington T^ark of Albany. The money with 
which the monument of the ])oet was set up was not the 
gift of Mr. Kinnear. In its erection he was simply act- 
ing as executor in carrying out the wishes of an old 
Scotswoman who was long regarded in Albany as a mi- 
ser, but the terms of the bequest were such that Mr. Kin- 
near could, had he so desired, placed a marble or other 
tablet in the park and retained the balance of the money. 
Put he was too honest a man to take advantage of any 



MERCHANTS ANJ) MUNHMl'AI. I U 1 1 LI )KIIS. 26-'} 

(juil)l)lc thai niiolit l)c raised for any personal £^ain to him- 
self, and he rejoieed that Mary Alel'herson's eeeentricities 
and closc-fistedness had been the means of puttiui^ it into 
his power to realize his desire of seeing a monument to 
Scotia's darling poet in the city of his adoption. So, 
soon after Mary McPhcrson died, on Vch. 6, 1886, tlie 
legal machinery in the case was fully put in oi)eration, 
and in a short time Mr. Charles Calverley, sculptor, of 
New York, formerly of Albany, was at work on the clay 
model of the figure of the poet. Mr. Kinnear never for 
a moment concealed or thought to conceal Mary Mc- 
IMuTson's share in tlic UKnunuent, but it shotild not be 
forgotten that but for him and for her reliance on his 
honesty and common sense she would never have made 
a will at all. 

The statue was completed and unveilcfl on Sept. 30, 
1888, and the day of the unveiling was a memorable one 
in the history of the Scotch population of Albany. The 
figure itself, as a work of art, fully deserved the high praise 
which was lavished upon it when first seen and so fre- 
(juently since. Unlike most sculptors who have essayed 
a figure of Burns, Mr. Calverley had no previously con- 
ceived ideals or theories to work out. Tie simply start- 
ed on his task with the view of reproducing a lifelike 
])ortrait of the man, tempered in details so as to fashion 
a work that would be accepted as correct in its ])ortrait- 
ure, while satisfying the highest artistic re(|uirements. 
The bases for liis work were the only " originals " in ex- 
istence, the Nasmyth portrait and a cast of the skull, and 
these were used to the utmost, with hints taken from 
Skirving and later engravers and artists. The result is 
a figure of lUirns that is more satisfying — as some one 
put it— than any other, and which in most respects ranks 
superior to any of the other statues of the poet which 
his admirers have raised to his memory. 

Among the men who have been most active in the 
building up of the far Western cities, Scotsmen will most 
assuredly and invariably be found in the very front rank. 
An instance of this comes before us from Portland, Ore- 
gon, where William Rcid, a native of Clasgow, is re- 



264 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

garded as prominent among those who have helped to 
make that city what it is to-day, one of the most pros- 
perous trade centres west of the Mississippi. Mr. Reid 
was born in 1842, and after receiving his early education 
in his native city, crossed the Atlantic. His career in 
America has been eminently useful and successful, and he 
has combined the cjualities of a literary man and financier 
so as to give magnificent results to Portland, the city in 
which he has his home. Mr. Reid organized in 1874 the 
Portland Board of Trade, and is credited with having 
been the means of investing, or causing to be invested, 
over ten millions of foreign capital in the industries and 
agriculture and development of Oregon. A pamphlet 
entitled " Oregon and Washington as Fields for Labor 
and Capital," published in 1873, was widely distributed 
in Britain, and was the prime factor in the establishment 
of the Washington and Oregon Trust and Investment 
Company, with a capital of $1,000,000; and in the rail- 
way, iinancial, and industrial interests of Oregon and 
Washington he has been recognized as a powerful fac- 
tor. 

We have already mentioned several names associated 
with Boston, and, did the limits of this work permit it, 
an interesting chapter or two, might be written headed 
" Scots in Boston." Such firms as Hogg, Brown & Tay- 
lor, the Gilchrists, and Shepherd, Norwell & Co., have not 
only led the dry goods trade in that city for many years, 
but from them a host of Scotch dry goods establishments 
has spread all through the country, even New York, it- 
self a centre of the trade, having numbered the graduates 
from these establishments among its great merchants. 
But the Scot in Boston has flourished in all the walks 
of business life. For many years a notable figure in its 
commercial circles was James M. Smith, who was at the 
head of a large brewery, and had an interest in a dozen 
other concerns. Born at Arbuthnott, Kincardineshire, 
in 1832, and educated at the Montrose Academy, he 
commenced his business life as an apprentice in the once 
famous Fdinburgh establishment of Duncan, Flockhart 
& Co., druggists. When his apprenticeship was over he 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 2(5-") 

went to Canada, and finally settled in Boston, where he 
drifted into a groove that made him a successful busi- 
ness man, '* a man of means and substance," as the old 
saying puts it. No Scot in Boston was more full of pa- 
triotism than he, and his patriotism he was always ready 
to back up in the most practical way — by his bawbees. 
He was a ruling spirit in the Presbyterian Church and 
liberal to all its schemes. For many years he was Pres- 
ident of the Scots' Charitable Society, and his business 
administration of its affairs, and wise liberality made that 
venerable organization take on a new lease of popularity. 
Pie revived, too, the almost defunct British Charitable 
Society and placed it on a substantial and useful footing, 
and in a hundred other ways was constantly manifesting 
his interest in the old land antl iiis countrymen. Mr. 
Smith died in 1894, and his departure left a blank in the 
Scottish ranks in the " Hub " which will, we fear, long 
remain unfilled. The same year the grave closed over 
another leal-hearted Boston Scot — Robert Ferguson of 
the firm of Shepherd, Norwell & Co. He was on a visit 
to Paris at the time, traveling in search of health, and 
was about to leave the Continent and return for a spell 
to his native place, Kirkmahoe, Dumfriesshire — where lie 
was born sixty-five years before^ — when the end came. Mr. 
Ferguson settled in America in 1855, and was employed 
in several dry goods houses in New York, notably that 
of A. T. Stewart & Co., with whom he remained fifteen 
years, and was regarded as one of the best buyers, always 
cautious, but ever ready to notice the selling value of 
everything brought before him. In 1870 he went to Bos- 
ton to assume a partnership with the firm already men- 
tioned, a partnership that continued until his death. In 
the Scots' Charitable Society he was an active and gen- 
erous member, and was known for his artistic and literary 
tastes. He won hosts of friends in I5oston, and was re- 
garded not only as an upright and able merchant, but 
as an exemplary and patriotic citizen. 

We have just spoken of the ramifications of the Scotch 
dry goods houses in America which radiated from Bos- 
ton as a centre. But one might think that Scotsmen 



2G6 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

exerted a prime influence in the trade all over the coun- 
try. One remarkable evidence of this is the rapid suc- 
cess of the Syndicate Trading Company of New York, 
which is a sort of dry goods exchange for its consti- 
tuting members. Regarding the inception and composi- 
tion of this organization, a correspondent, Mr. Donald 
Mackay of Worcester, sent the following intelligent ac- 
count to the New York " Scottish-American " in Octo- 
ber, 1895: 

" A. Swan Brown, when a young clerk in a dry goods 
house in Worcester, having an instinct for enterprise 
and speculation, foresaw a great opportunity in amalga- 
mating the Scottish dry goods establishments into one 
great syndicate. His reasoning was that, bound by na- 
tional tics (and many of them on terms of personal inti- 
macy) they would work together without friction to the 
advantage of the various firms involved in the enterprise. 
The chief aim, however, of the syndicate would be to es- 
tablish an of^ce in New York City, in touch with the 
markets of the world, and purchase in unprecedentedly 
large cjuantities and at cheaper prices than would be of- 
fered to satisfy those wlio cannot afford to buy except 
on a basis to satisfy a limited demand in a single estab- 
lishment. 

" To A. Swan Brown belongs the credit of organizing 
one of the greatest dry goods institutions in this or any 
other country — the Syndicate Trading Company, of 
which he is the President. It comprises the Callender, 
McAuslan & Troup Company, Providence, R. I.; Adam, 
Meldrum & Anderson Company, BuiTalo, N. Y. ; Sibley, 
Lindsay & Curr, Rochester, N. Y.; Brown, Thomson & 
Co., Hartford, Conn.; Forbes & Wallace, Springfield, 
Mass. ; Denholm & McKay Company, Worcester, Mass. ; 
Dives, Pomeroy & Stewart, Reading, Penn. ; Almy, Bige- 
low & Washburn, Salem, Mass.; Minneapolis Dry Goods 
Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; Doggett Dry Goods 
Company, Kansas City, Mo., and Pettis Dry Goods Com- 
pany, Indianapolis, Ind. Mr. Brown approached these 
various firms, scattered throughout the country, and the 
syndicate now formed is the result of his efforts. These 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 267 

eleven firms arc among the largest dry goods houses in 
this countr}', and have experienced buyers in all the lead- 
ing markets of the world. Each firm of the combine is 
established and managed by Scotsmen, and the employes 
are largely Scottish, or of Scottish descent. 

" Mr. Brown has purchased a controlling interest in 
the Boston Store of Worcester, of which he is now 
President, and has removed his family from New York 
to a unique residence which he recently had erected in 
one of the suburbs of that place. He has lately exhibited 
an interest in the municipal affairs of this city, and it is 
suggested that at some not distant day he may be Mayor 
Browii of Worcester, Mass." 

A sad break was made in one of the firms constituting 
this syndicate early in January, 1896, when, within a few 
days of each other, John McAuslan and John E. Troup 
of the firm of Callender, McAuslan & Troup, Providence, 
passed away. Both men were notable examples of Scot- 
tish-American merchants. Mr. McAuslan was born at 
Kilmadan, Argyllshire, in 1835. He learned the drapery 
business in Greenock, and in 1858 secured an appoint- 
ment in the store of Hogg, Brown & Taylor, Boston. Mr. 
Troup was born at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, in 
1829, and until he sailed for the United States, in 1855, 
was employed as a clerk in Aberdeen. At Boston he 
entered the firm of George TurniDull & Co., and re- 
mained in that establishment until, in 1866, along with 
Walter Callender and John McAuslan, he went to 
Providence and opened the establishment, which, from 
the time it started until the present, has been the leading 
dry goods emporium of Rhode Island. 

Recent and typical examples, and examples, too, 
which combine New York and Boston dry goods train- 
ing, based on a thorough Scotch foundation, may be 
found in the careers of two brothers, Thomas and James 
Simpson, who, until their lives were cut short when they 
should have been in their prime, ranked among the lead- 
ing retail merchants in their line of business in New 
York. They were born at Markinch, Fifeshire, and served 
apprenticeships to the drapery business there, and after- 



268 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ward gained wider experience in Glasgow. Settling in 
America, they secured positions in the house of Hogg, 
Brown & Taylor, and then, when they reached the top 
rung in the ladder of promotion, they, in accordance 
with the custom of the leading employes of that house, 
and with its blessing, started out for themselves. Thomas 
cast in his lot with Lawrence, Mass., while James went to 
Norwich, Conn. After a while, although both were suc- 
cessful, they longed for a wider sphere of business, and, 
an old New York house being in the market owing to the 
desire of the senior partner to retire, they secured the in- 
terest thus offered, sold off their respective establish- 
ments, and, removing to New York, organized the old 
firm into that of Simpson, Crawford & Simpson, Mr. 
Crawford who connected the Simpsons being the holding 
over partner in the old firm, and, like his new asso- 
ciates, a native of Scotland. The new firm was a suc- 
cess from the start, and its business was steadily in- 
creased until the establishment occupied many stores and 
gave employment to some i,8oo hands, mostly Scotch. It 
used to be said that it was as good as a trip across the 
ocean to go into this mammoth concern, a concern that 
was, and is, conducted with Yankee shrewdness, tem- 
pered by Scotch honesty, an invaluable combination, and 
hear the Doric spoken by the clerks and salesmen as 
fresh and pithy as though they had just come from the 
heather. Thomas died in 1885 and James in 1895, and 
both were sadly mourned. 

The leading dry goods man in St. Louis is a native 
of Rothesay, Mr. D. Crawford. A recent article in The 
Mirror of that city, says that he settled there in i860 or 
thereabout. " Mr. Crawford's prosperity," says that pa- 
per, " has grown with the city, but he attributes his great 
success to Scotch tenacity of purpose, cash payments, 
and printers' ink. He looks back with pride on the days 
of his small beginnings, and cherishes more than all the 
friends of these earlier days, when his great ' Broadway 
Bazaar ' was much smaller than it now is, and when its 
business represented thousands where now it runs into 
millions of dollars. He has never forgotten his mother 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 269 

country, and no deserving indigent Scot ever applies to 
him in vain. For the last twelve successive years he has 
been the highly-appreciated President of the St. Louis 
Caledonian Society." 

Mining in all its branches is an industry in which the 
Scots in America have taken a very prominent part, but 
curiously enough, miners, while hard-working men, are 
very modest and seldom obtrude themselves in print. 
They make their " pile " when they can, but do not care 
to " blow '" about it, and are content to have the " gear " 
and leave the glory to others. As a result, they are diffi- 
cult to get information about, although there is hardly a 
mineral field on the continent on which they have not 
been at work, and if a Scotch tourist gets among the 
placer mines of the Pacific slope he will not need to wan- 
der very far before shaking hands with a countryman. 

One of the most intelligent and successful miners Scot- 
land has sent to this country, Andrew Roy, a native of 
Lanarkshire, was the first State Inspector of Mines in 
Ohio, and the first in the United States outside of the 
anthracite district of Pennsylvania. He has been iden- 
tified with mining in the State of Ohio for thirty years, 
and has had practical experience in other parts of the 
country. He is a scientific miner, a thoroughly practical 
geologist, and it was through his exertions that the Min- 
ing School was established in connection with the Ohio 
State University. Mr. Roy may, therefore, be fairly re- 
garded as a representative type of the educated miner, and 
one who loves his business for its own sake rather than 
for the mere consideration of the money that may be in 
it, and that, after all, is the highest sort of representative 
any trade or profession can have. The man who merely 
bends his energy to getting rich may thrive with shoddy, 
wooden nutmegs or bogus clocks, just as the grocer 
may thrive who carefully sands his sugar, or the milk- 
man w'ho mathematically dilutes the fluid he sells, or the 
speculator who waters the stock in which he is inter- 
ested. But these things have no real influence upon the 
world. The man who does liis work — whatever that 
work may be — honestly and thoroughly, does something 



270 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

that justifies his existence, that adds to the wealth of the 
world, and reflects honor on his name after he has passed 
away. Nay, honest work is very often the most endur- 
ing monument a man can have. Old Fhyfe, the cabinet- 
maker, is still remembered for the excellence of his work- 
manship, although his hand has long been at rest, while 
hundreds of richer makers of shoddy furniture — furni- 
ture made to sell, and that only — have been forgotten, 
even although during their lives they loomed up much 
more prominently in 'the public eye. But their lives 
were based on shoddy principles. 

In the course of an interesting letter to the writer of 
this book in response to a request for some information 
concerning the Scotch miners in the Buckeye State, as 
Ohio is fondly called, Mr. Roy said: " Curiously 
enough, the native Scotch have not had a great deal to 
do with the early development of the mining industries 
of this State. They were the pioneer miners of Mary- 
land and of Illinois and other Western States, but not 
of Ohio. The men who might be called the fathers of 
the mining industries here had in many instances Scotch 
blood coursing through their veins, but they themselves 
were born in America. Such was the late Gov. David 
Tod, the father of the coal and iron industry of Ohio, 
whose grandfather, as he told me himself, came from 
Edinburgh. The late Mr. Chisholm of Cleveland was, 
however, a native Scot, and his was the greatest success 
possible, though his field Avas in manufacturing rather 
than in mining. In Southern Ohio, John Campbell, the 
late iron king, was of Scotch blood and descent, though 
a native of Virginia. He was one of the pioneer miners 
of the Hanging Rock region. 

" The Hon. Thomas Ewing, a United States Senator 
and a Cabinet officer, was another coal and iron miner in 
another part of Southern Ohio. He, too, was of Vir- 
ginia birth, but a full-blooded Scot. Gen. George W. 
McCook. of the family of the ' fighting McCooks,' was 
one of the pioneer miners of Ohio. I think he was born 
in the State, but he was a Scot to the backbone. We 
have a number of native Scots in the coal and iron busi- 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 271 

ness of the State at present, such as Alexander McDon- 
ald, the millionaire of Cincinnati. He is of Highland 
birth. The Hamiltons of Columbus, John and John C. 
and Gen. W. B., can hardly be classed as pioneers, but 
rather as successful Scotch business men.'' 

If we were to look for a Scotch colony near New 
York we would assuredly go to the Wyoming Valley, 
where we would find groups of families as Scotch as 
though they had newdy left Scotland, speaking their na- 
tive Doric in all its purity, preserving Scotch customs, 
even to " first fittin'," and rejoicing in all things Scotch, 
in the kirk, the slippery rink, and the pleasant foregath- 
ering in Summer and Winter after the day's " darg " is 
done. Sometimes we could find so many of one name 
that the different wearers of the cognomen are distin- 
guished by nicknames — titles given without any attempt 
at disparaging an individual, but bestowed and used for 
convenience sake, and we would find these Scots in all 
sorts of positions, in the mines as well as in the ranks of 
the local tradesmen. One of the n:ost noted of the 
miners of the Wyoming Valley, Thomas Waddell of 
Pittston, was a fair type of the rest, although he was 
more successful from a financial standpoint than most of 
his fellow-miners. But the mere possession of money 
made no diflference to " Tam," as he was generally called, 
and he was hail fellow alike with sleek Senators and na- 
bobs, mine workers, and the boys of the Thistle Band, a 
company of musicians that used to wake the beautiful 
W^yoming A'allcy witli their beautiful rendering of Scotch 
music. 

Mr. Waddell was born near Edinburgh in 1827. In 
1850 he left Scotland to make a home for himself in this 
country. He first tried his fortune in Wilkes-Barre. Be- 
ginning his American career as a working miner, he 
worked in the coal shafts for a year or two and then 
went to California to try his fortune in digging for gold. 
He secured enough to give him a working capital, and, 
returning East, he bought a coal mine and continued in 
that business till his death, at Pittston. in 1894. It may 
be worthy of mention that Mr. Waddell's home town of 



272 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Pittston was the last place in America where, so far as 
the writer's knowledge goes, Allan Ramsay's " Gentle 
Shepherd " was publicly performed in an American the- 
atre. That was in 1880. The piece was well put upon 
the stage and capably acted, and delighted a large and 
representative Scotch audience which assembled to wit- 
ness it, and with its aid to renew many pleasant mem- 
ories of auld lang syne. 

Weaving, like mining, owes much of its prominence 
and perfection among American industries tO' the Scotch 
operatives who carried their skill across the Atlantic and 
exercised it all over New England, in Pennsylvania, and 
the State of New York. A fair example of how a Scotch 
weaver can make his mark in America is found in the 
career of Samuel Laurie of Auburn, who died in 1895, 
while on a visit, in the hope of recovering his health, at 
Hot Springs, Ark. He was born at Glasgow in 1834, 
and learned his trade of a weaver there — the best place 
in the world at that time to learn weaving except, per- 
haps, Paisley. He left Scotland for America in 1856, 
and, after working in mills in many places, principally in 
New England, went to Auburn in 1866 to take a minor 
position in the woolen mills there. In a short time he was 
superintendent, and finally became President of the com- 
pany. Mr. Laurie was a thorough master of his busi- 
ness, an enthusiast at it, even, and was always striving 
how to effect improvements in the designs of the goods, 
the fastness or purity of the colors, or the fineness or 
evenness of the textures. He invented several arrange- 
ments which helped considerably to bring about these 
improvements and to lower the cost of production. He 
had one great ambition — to place on the American mar- 
ket tweeds equal to those produced at Bannockburn or 
Galashiels, and, toward the end of his business career, it 
was generally acknowledged that he had succeeded. 

Business men, most of them, whose lives are not based 
upon shoddy foundations are full of charity. We have 
had several instances of this in the course of this chap- 
ter, but the theme is so inexhaustible, so full of scope for 
patriotic pride, and, withal, so pleasant and instructive, 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 273 

that we cannot resist the temptation of citing a few more 
ilkistrations before closing this chapter. The philan- 
thropic love-labors of that kindly son of auld Dunferm- 
hne, Andrew Carnegie, in founding libraries, musical 
conservatories, and aiding all sorts of helpful objects of 
a general nature that ai'e upward in their tendency, are 
too well known to need recital here. But Scottish 'phi- 
lanthropists have been in America from an early age, and 
have invariably shown judgment in their gifts. Take the 
case of James Lee, who was born at St. Andrews in 1795, 
and for forty years prior to his death, in 1874, was a 
merchant in New York City. He was long noted for the 
warm mterest he took in the New York Society Library, 
an mstitution he assisted with his money, as well as with 
his advice and business experience and influence. But 
he left a memorial of his disinterested patriotism in the 
Washmgton Monument that adorns Union Square. 
Few of the thousands who pass that grand memorial of 
the first President of the United States know that its 
ereftion was brought about mainlv through the exer- 
tions of a Scottish citizen, but such 'was the case. James 
Lee worked hard to gather together the needed funds to 
purchase the work, and as the result of innumerable 
calls, bushels of letters, and pleadings of all sorts he 
eventually succeeded. He used to say that he had 'less 
trouble m getting subscriptions from citizens of America 
by adoption than from those who were citizens by rio-ht 
of birth. One of these, in declining Mr. Lee's requ1;st 
for a subscription, said grandiloquently: "Washington, 
Sir, needs no monument. Sir; he is enshrined ii? the 
hearts of his countrymen." " Well," retorted Lee, " if he 
IS m your heart he is in a prettv tight place." Active as 
an American citizen as he was, however, Mr. Lee was 
noted for his enthusiasm for his native land, and he affil- 
iated with the St. Andrew's Society in 1822. shortly after 
settling in New York, and retained his membership till 
the end. 

For tnie philanthropy, the name of no Scot in Amer- 
ica stands higher than that of Archibald Russell. His 
father was at one time President of the Roval Society at 



274 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Edinburgh, and Archibald was born in that city in l8ii, 
graduating in time from its university. In 1836 he set- 
tled in New York, and almost immediately after entered 
upon that career of kindly usefulness which has en- 
shrined his memory in the charitable annals of America's 
commercial metropolis. He founded the Five Points 
Mission, one of the most needed, most beneficent, and 
most practical charities in New York, and aided in found- 
ing the Half Orphan Asylum and a dozen other institu- 
tions. During the civil war he was a member of the 
Christian Commission, whose noble work needs no re- 
telling here, and even when resting at- his Summer home 
in Ulster County, Mr. Russell was always thinking upon 
some scheme of kindly work, or putting such schemes 
into execution. Mr. Russell died in New York in 1871. 

A kindly man, although of a peculiar temperament, 
but whose daily business life was seldom unproductive o) 
some good deed quietly done, was Robert L. Maitland, 
whose death at Port Washington, N. J., in 1876, was a 
surprise to his hosts of friends in New York, although it 
was known to himself long before the summons came 
that his life hung by a more than usually slender thread. 
Mr. Maitland was born in New York, but he always 
claimed to be of the Scottish race, and was proud of it, 
His father was a native of Kirkcudbrightshire, in Scot- 
land, and belonged to an ancient family, for which a re- 
mote kinship was claimed with the noble house of 
Lauderdale. His uncle established the firm of Maitland, 
Phelps & Co., already referred to. Plis mother was a 
daughter of Mr. Robert Lenox. His associations, there- 
fore, social as well as business, were of a character to 
give him a splendid start in life, and no one could have 
used them to better advantage. If we were called upon 
to name a dozen firms in this city distinguished above 
all others for long standing, great energy, and enter- 
prise, honorable principles, and a credit that never was 
doubted in the most troublous times, Messrs. R. L. 
Maitland & Co. would be one of them. 

Mr. Maitland was frequently impetuous and some- 
times imperious, but a good deal of this might justly be 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 275 

attributed to the irritablencss produced by a painful dis- 
ease from which he was long" a sufferer. In private life 
few men were more considerate, gentle, and lovable. He 
was certainly strong in his likes and dislikes, but, his 
confidence once secured, he was the most faithful and 
devoted of friends. Like all of his race and name, he 
loved to play the part of a country gentleman, and he 
played it with genuine courteous hospitality and dignity. 
His establishments in town and country were filled with 
old and faithful servants — no slight proof of his kindness 
and consideration as a master. His contributions to 
every meritorious scheme of benevolence and religion 
were all on a scale commensurate with his great wealth, 
but were always bestowed in the most unostentatious 
manner. Like his kinsman, I\Ir. James Lenox, he loved 
to do good by stealth. 

Business and philanthropy were also combined in a 
laudable degree in the career of another Scotsman's son, 
who, from the beginning' to the end of his career, inva- 
riably reflected upon and spoke of his Scotch origin and 
blood with unbounded enthusiasm. This was John Tay- 
lor Johnston, who was born in New York in 1820, and 
died in that city in 1893. He was a son of John John- 
ston, a native of Edinljurgh, who was partner in tlic 
once-famous importing house of Boorman, Johnston & 
Co., on Greenwich Street, New York, mentioned on a 
previous page in this chapter. While on a visit to Edin- 
burgh with his parents in 1832, John Taylor Johnston 
was sent to the High School, where he remained a year 
and a half. He then returned to New York, and was 
educated for the law. He did not take kindly to legal 
work, however, and when twenty-eight years of age he 
branched off into railroad management. He began by 
taking the Presidency of the Elizal^etlitown and Somer- 
ville Railroad, then oidy a few miles long and struggling 
for existence, and he steadily developed it until, under 
its new name of the New Jersey Central, it covered the 
greater part of the State. The chief business feature of 
the enterprise was the cultivation of the anthracite coal 
trade, and part of Mr, Johnston's scheme was the con- 



276 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

struction of a vast system of whai"ves, basins, and docks, 
involving the reclamation of the greater part of the Jer- 
sey flats. In 1877, however, before that undertaking 
could be carried out, the New Jersey Central, in com- 
mon with other railroads engaged in the same line of 
business, was overtaken by disaster, and had to go into 
the hands of a receiver. Mr. Johnston lost a large por- 
tion of his private fortune in trying to maintain its credit, 
but ultimately resigned the Presidency, which he had 
held for twenty-seven years. Mr, Johnston took the 
leading part, in 1870, in founding the Metropolitan Mu- 
seum of Art, and was its President when he died. He 
contributed $15,000 to the starting of the institution, and 
collected personally in Europe a large number of the 
works of art which were first shown in it. He was for 
many years an active ofBce bearer of the St. Andrew's 
Society, and was for one year its President. He Avas 
also a Trustee of the Presbyterian Hospital, besides be- 
ing otherwise an extremely useful citizen. 

Another Scotsman's son who has come to the front in 
financial "circles, especially from the manner in which he 
twice came to the rescue of the financial end of the Cleve- 
land Administration by organizing syndicates to take up 
its early issues of bonds, is John A. Stewart, President of 
the United States Trust Company. It is well known, 
too, that Mr. Stewart has been liberal of his means in a 
quiet, unobtrusive way in promoting good works. In 
speaking of his work in the bond syndicate in November, 
1894, ''The New York Herald" remarked: " It is not 
everybody who can go around among his friends and by 
a little persuasive argument induce them to form a syn- 
dicate which will pay out $50,000,000 in gold at the beck 
of his finger." This was exactly what John Aikman 
Stewart did, and the fact speaks volumes for the trust 
reposed in his honesty and shrewdness as a financier. 
" The Herald," in further commenting on this great 
bond transaction, gave the following particulars of Mr. 
Stewart's parentage and early career: " Mr. Stewart first 
saw the light of day on Aug. 26, 1822. 

" From the land of Robert Burns came his ancestors. 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAL BUILDERS. 277 

His father was born on the Island of Lewis, one of the 
Hebrides .c^roup, on the northwest coast of Scotland. 
Comino- to this country when quite young, he was a 
ship carpenter in this city for many years, then em- 
barked in business, was for a long while an Assessor for 
what were then the Twelfth and the Sixteenth Wards, 
and was also Receiver of Taxes. Mr. Stewart's mother 
was born in this city, her father being a Scotchman." 

Perhaps the most conspicuous example of the influ- 
ence which Scotsmen have exerted and are exerting 
upon American progress is found in the career of John 
S. Kennedy, of New York, who was born at Blantyre, 
Lanarkshire, (the birthplace of David Livingstone,) in 
1830, and settled in New York in 1856. 

During his American business career Mr. Kennedy 
has been associated in many of the most important busi- 
ness interests of his time, and railroads, banks, and syn- 
dicates of all sorts have felt the influence of his guidance 
and judgment. He undertook the receivership of the 
Central Railroad of New Jersey when that road was 
practically bankrupt, and when he retired he handed it 
over to its present owners as a paying concern. His 
connection with the Canadian Pacific Railroad is well 
known, but few can appreciate the amount of work he 
<lid as Vice President and Director of the St. Paul, Min- 
neapolis and Manitoba Railroad Company, or as Vice 
President of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette 
Railroad Company, or as President of the International 
and Great Northern Railroad Company of Texas. Even 
now that he is supposed to be retired from business, and 
enjoying his otiiun cum dignitate, he is trustee under the 
mortgages of various railroads to an amount approach- 
ing $100,000,000, besides being trustee or executor on 
many private estates involving many millions more, a 
Director of the National Bank of Commerce, the Man- 
hattan Company's Bank, the Central Trust Company, 
the United States Trust Company, the Title Guarantee 
and Trust Company, the New York, Chicago and .St. 
Louis, and several other railroad coinpanies, and many 
lesser concerns. 



278 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

In the affairs of the Presbyterian Hospital and of the 
Lenox Library, of both of which he is President, Mr. 
Kennedy takes more than ordinary interest. No one 
knows the extent of his gifts to the hospital, and to the 
library he is constantly giving. He is also an ex-Presi- 
dent of the St. Andrew's Society, a Vice President ot 
the New York Historical Society, a Trustee of the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art and of many other of the 
public institutions of which New York is proud. In the 
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (Dr. John Hall's) 
Mr. Kennedy has long been a Trustee, and in several 
of the boards of the Presbyterian Church he is an active 
ofhce holder. 

Two of his ofifices, and of both of which he is peculiarly 
proud, are those of President of the Board of Trustees of 
the American Bible House and of Robert College, both 
at Constantinople — institutions which he visited when 
returning from a tour through Egypt and the Holy Land, 
a few years ago, and again in 1894. Mr. Kennedy's 
latest gift to New York is the Public Charities Building, 
at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second 
Street, which cost about three-quarters of a million oi 
dollars, and brings the various public charities of the city 
under one roof. 

In this chapter we have said nothing of the Scot in 
Canada, for the reasons elsewhere stated, and because 
to cross the St. Lawrence in search of illustrations would 
simply mean to confront the entire business interests of 
the Dominion. We have, however, selected a few 
names, but merely at random, and as much for the sake 
of substantiating this remark as for any other purpose. 

A prominent type of a Scottish merchant in Canada 
was the Hon. John Macdonald, who died at Toronto 
early in 1890. He was born in Perthshire in 1824. His 
father, who was a native of Knockoilum, in Stratherrick, 
Inverness-shire, was a Sergeant in the Ninety-third 
Highlanders. He accompanied his regiment to Canada 
1837 '^^^ took his son along with him, the lad's 
mother having died the day before the vessel sailed. 
John received his education at Dalhousie College, Hali- 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICIPAli BUILDERS. 279 

fax, and then went to Toronto. His first connection in 
business was as a cleric in. a store at Gananoque, and in 
1849 ^le started in for himself and founded the firm 
which afterward became noted throughout Canada as 
tliat of John J\Iacdonald & Co., wholesale dry goods 
dealers and importers. Its credit was unlimited, its 
warcrooms were magnificent, and the Toronto Scots 
pointed to the imposing pile as evidence of what vScotch 
grit can accomplish in Canada. But* Mr. Macdonald 
was more than a mere merchant. He was a philan- 
thropist, a patriot, and a public-spirited citizen. He was 
a member of the Canadian House of Commons and 
afterward one of the Senators of the Dominion. In 
church and temperance work he was most assiduous, 
and in the Toronto School Board, in the vmiversity, 
and other educational institutions he was prominently 
identified for years. To the young men in his establish- 
ment he was more than an employer, and his will showed 
that they were in his thoughts when they little imagined 
it. The life of such a man is blessed not only to himself, 
but to the community in which he dwells, and to every 
one who is directly or indirectly brought under its influ- 
ence, and it may well be imagined what regret was felt 
in Toronto when it was known that this career of use- 
fulness and beneficence was closed. 

The annals of the Scot in Montreal would probably 
keep us, were they studied, almost always closer to the 
top of the tree in all departments of commerce, indus- 
try and finance than those of our countrymen in any 
other city on the American Continent. Take as a soli- 
tary case the career of Sir Donald A. Smith, whose gifts 
to the Victoria Hospital in Montreal alone have amount- 
ed to a quarter of a million sterling. He is a native of 
Morayshire, and went out to Canada while a youth and 
entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. 
Rapidly rising to the head of that corporation, he was 
the last resident Governor of that body as a governing 
corporation. During Riel's rebellion he was Special 
Commissioner in the Red River Settlements, and was 
thanked bv the Governor General of Canada for his 



280 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

many services. Sir Donald has taken a foremost part in 
such large commercial undertakings as the Canadian 
Pacific Railway and the Bank of Montreal, of which he 
is President. It was he who drove in the last spike of 
the Canadian Pacific Railway, nearly twelve years ago, at 
Craigellachie, in the Eagle Pass. In Canada his name 
is a household word, while in Scotland, as the proprietor 
of the historic estate of Glencoe, he occupies a promi- 
nent place among the county magnates of Argyllshire. 

One more illustration, and then we leave this long and 
honorable record. It is that of William Walker, who, 
after a stirring and honorable career as a merchant and 
statesman, died at Quebec, in 1863. He left Scotland in 
181 5, when twenty-two years old, and went at once to 
Montreal, where he became a partner in the firm of For- 
syth, Richardson & Co. of Montreal, and Forsyth, 
Walker & Co. of Quebec. He was part owner of the 
steamer Royal William, the first steam vessel that 
crossed the Atlantic from British North America. He 
w^as first President of the Quebec and Riviere du Loup 
Railroad Company, President of the Quebec Board of 
Trade, and a Director in nearly all the financial institu- 
tions of that ancient city. He was a bit of a soldier, too, 
and raised and commanded the Quebec Volunteer Rifle 
Corps. But, with all these occupations, he attended 
closely to his main business, and in 1848 was enabled to 
retire with a handsome fortune. In 1839 he was ap- 
pointed a life member of the Legislative Council by 
royal mandate, and in that capacity did much good work 
for the Dominion, as well as for his own province ol 
Quebec. His later interest, however, centred in the 
University of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, of which 
he was the first Chancellor, and his benefactions to it, 
as well as his influential labors, were such as to stani]) 
him as one of the most thoughtful workers on behalf of 
higher education in Canada. 

We would fain dwell yet a while across the St. Law- 
rence, but the work has been done already by loving 
hands, and we have now lingered too long with this 
branch of our theme — not too long to exhaust it, but 



MERCHANTS AND MUNICTPAI, BUILDERS. 281 

longer than was necessary to demonstrate how much 
America owes to the Scottish merchants who threw in 
their lot with the New World. 

In Glasgow they generally estimate the good qualities 
of a man by figuring up how much he is worth. That 
basis of merit we have generally avoided in the preceding 
pages. But it may not be out of place to say that the 
fortune of Mr. George Smith, the pioneer Chicago banker 
already mentioned, is now believed to amount to about 
$50,000,000. With it he is doing much practical good, 
for, besides founding several bursaries in the schools of 
Old Deer, he gave $5,000 last year to Aberdeen Uni- 
versity towards its new buildings. 

When Alexander Stuart of New York died he be- 
queathed his entire estate, valued at $2,000,000, to Iiis 
brother, Robert L. Stuart, his sole legatee. When, later, 
Robert L. died, he left his fortune, estimated at over 
$5,000,000, to his wife. In spite of her many benefac- 
tions, Mrs. R. L. Stuart left $5,000,000 when she died, 
nine years after her husband. After making liberal pro- 
visions for distant relatives and a few personal friends. 
she bequeathed nearly $4,500,000 to religious, benevolent, 
and educational institutions. 




CHArT]':R IX. 



EDUCATORS. 



TF a Scot were asked in wliat direction the influence 
of his native land was most plainly and characteristically 
to be seen in America, he would undoubtedly answer in 
the direction of education. In surveying the entire scho- 
lastic field — primary, oranmiar, and collegiate — in 
America, we are struck by the fact th.at the underlying 
theory of the whole is that pronudgated by John Knox 
when he proposed an ideal system for Scotland, but was 
defeated by the greed and treachery of the Scottish no- 
bility — including even those who were with him in the 
struggle against the old Church, in brief, his system 
called for at least one grannnar school in every parish, 
a burgh or high school and, where possible, a collegiate 
institution in every town, and a university in the princi- 
pal cities, besides " bairn schules " in connection with 
each kirk. His theory is that the education of the 
youth was part of the legitimate business of every State, 
and his wish was that that education should be as liberal 
as possible. Education, the education of the masses, 
lias always been since Knox's time on.e of tlie ruling 
princii)les of Scottish life. It was carefully fostered by 
the Church; the management of the schools long formed 
])art of the most imjxjrtant business of every General 
Assend)ly. and their visitation and su])crvision were re- 
garded as not the least among the duties of the clergy. 
]t was only within a comparatively recent period in 
Scotland that the State stepped to the front in educa- 
tional matters, and the Church gradually released its 
hold, until now the entire management, even of the uni- 
versities, is ])rofessedlv secular. This change — this sep- 
282 



"RDTTOATDRS. 283 

aration of education from religion — it has always ap- 
peared to us, is one of the things that the Old Country 
lias learned ffom America, where scholastic training 
from the heginning of the national history of the United 
States has been secular, except where particular re- 
ligions have foimded schools or colleges of their own. 

In speaking of the Churcli liaving control of the 
schools in Scolland, however, it must be remembered 
tliat that control sprang from a different source from 
that which actuates most Churches in educational mat- 
ters. Th.ere never was, there never will be, a more per- 
fect system of re])ublican government, a more complete 
democracy, than that devised for the Kirk by John Knox 
and his associaies. In that system the basis of every- 
thing" was the Kirk meeting, in which every one, every 
head of a familv, had a voice and a vote; from that pop- 
ular meeting" came the session, from the session the 
Presbytery, from the Presbytery the Synod, from the 
S)'no(l the (ieneral Assend:)ly. 1'h.e last being thor- 
ouglilv representative in its conrplexion, was for many 
generations the real ]:»arliament of the nation, and thus it 
was the voice of the vScottish ])eople acting through their 
regularly and honestly chosen delegates that inspired the 
zeal for the cause of education throughout the country 
and maintained it. 

yVlthougii the educational system of the United States, 
the s}sleni made conii)ulsory by vState laws, is as per- 
fectly secular as can be devised, yet it should be remem- 
l)crcd that the earliest American teachers were either 
the clergy or that the early schools were founded under 
the aus])ices of some Church. The Presbyterian, as the 
representative Scotch denomination, for a long time was 
as active in establishing" schools as churches. Thus, in 
the early history of the Carolinas, we find that one vSynod 
admonished all the Presbyteries under its control "to 
establish within their respective bounds one or more 
grammar sch.ools, except where such schools are already 
established," and the early Presbyterian records all over 
the Colonial settlements are full of such references, where 
tlie records are found to exist. ( )ne of the most famous 



284 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

of the early educational institutions in the Carolinas was 
the Innis Academy, founded in Wilmington by Col. 
James Innis, a native of Dunse, who incorporated tlic 
school in 1783. He had been an officer in the British 
Army, and distinguished himself in the expedition 
against Cartliagena, in South America. The University 
of North CaroHna, too, was established in 1795 by the 
Rev. Joseph Caldwell, an educational pioneer of Scotch 
and French descent. Before that, however, in 1685, the 
Rev. James Blair, a Scotch missionary, founded Will- 
iam and Mary College, in Virginia, the most ancient ot 
the American colleges, and which still carries on its good 
work to the present day, and we have seen in the course 
of this work, by the labors at Princeton of Witherspoon 
and other early Scotch teachers, how active the pioneer 
Scots in America were in the cause of higher education. 
Among the most prominent of the early Scotch teach- 
ers, whose life story has been preserved to us mainly be- 
cause he became as active as a patriot and a legislator as 
an educator in his adopted country, was Peter Wilson, a 
native of the little parish of Ordiquhill, Banffshire. He 
was born there in 1744, and, after attending Aberdeen 
University for several sessions — long enough to grad- 
uate, for in Scotland they used to enter college at an 
age when the children of the present day are only half 
way through the grammar schools — he left Scotland 
and landetl in New York, in 1763. Wilson soon re- 
ceived an appointment as a teacher in Hackensack 
Academy, New Jersey, and served there as Principal for 
many years. His labors appear to have been interrupted 
by the Revolutionary War, and the movement for inde- 
pendence found in him one of its most devoted ad- 
herents and promoters. From 1777 to 1783 he served in 
the New Jersey Legislature, and afterward took a prom- 
inent and exceedingly useful part in codifying and revis- 
ing the laws of that State. In 1789 he accepted the pro- 
fessorship of Greek and Latin in Columbia College, and 
remained there till 1792, when he resigned to become 
Principal of Erasmus Hall Academy, Flatbush. N. Y. 
That ofifice he vacated in 1797, when he returned to Co- 



EDUCATORS. 285 

lumbia College as Professor of Greek and Latin and of 
Greek Antiquities, and taught until 1820, when he re- 
iired on a pension. He died five years later, at New 
Barbados, N. J., and was buried in Hackensack Church- 
yard, where a stone was erected to his memory on which 
his career was summed up in the words: "A zealous 
and successful patriot and Christian, and exemplary in 
all the public, social, and domestic relations which he 
sustained." Dr. Wilson published several textbooks, 
each of which bore evidence to his scholarship, but they 
are now forgotten, for old textbooks, like old almanacs, 
seem to be neglected and cast aside as soon as they 
have served their day. 

A representative Scot, whose life story, however, is 
rather a painful one, was James Hardie, an Aberdonian 
and a graduate of Marischal College, Aberdeen. He 
was born in 1750, and after graduation became an in- 
mate of the domestic circle of Prof. James Beattie (" the 
Poet of Truth," as he has been called,) as secretary, or 
tutor, or both. Beattie possessed influence enough and 
heart enough to have advanced his protege's fortunes in 
a material way, but there were several matters which 
caused the philosopher and poet to believe that Hardie's 
interests would be best served by his removal from his 
associates and accustomed haunts, and bv beginning life 
anew in a far country. He, therefore, advised him to 
emigrate to America, and the advice was taken. Hardie 
settled in New York, and from 1787 till 1790 was em- 
ployed as a tutor in Columbia College. He then lost 
his employment on account of his dissipated habits, for 
he did not " mend his ways " in the new land, and, after 
drifting aimlessly along in the current of life for several 
years, picking up a precarious livelihood one way and 
another, he obtained a minor position in connection 
with one of the city departments. His salarv was small, 
l)arely enough to keep body and soul together, and he 
eked it out by doing hack work for the publishers when 
he got the opportunity. In this way he became the au- 
thor of (juite a number of books, the most curious of 
which are " An Account of the Yellow Fever in New 



286 <^THE;^SC0T in 'AMERICA. 

York," (1822,) and a descriptive account of the same 
city, issued the same year. He also completed a Bio- 
graphical Dictionary, which was issued in 1830, and 
proved that he could be industrious and painstaking' 
when he liked. Hardie died in New York, in 1832, leav- 
ing behind him nothing of real value to the world be- 
yond the awful example of a richly endowed life wasted. 
We get a much more noble illustration of the Scot 
abroad in studying the career of another Aberdonian, 
John Keith. Born at Achlossan, in 1763, he graduated 
from Aberdeen University in 1781, and soon after, be- 
fore he had even attained full legal age, was admitted a 
member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his 
twentieth year he emigrated, and, after spending a year 
or two in Virginia, finally settled in New York. He se- 
cured employment as a teacher in Columbia College^ 
and soon after became one of the Faculty of that insti- 
tution by accepting the Chair of Mathematics. In 1795 
he was transferred to the Chair of Geography, History, 
and Chronology, and proved a most devoted teacher. 
But he was more than a teacher. He was a public-spir- 
ited citizen, and took an active interest in matters far 
from akin to his profession. For instance, the desira- 
bility of a system of internal waterways through the 
State of New York, which was first suggested by the old 
Scotch Governor, Cadwallader Golden, was a burning 
question early in the century. The problem of the feasi- 
bility of such waterways was keenly debated, and De 
Witt Clinton, their great and unswerving advocate, 
found no more logical, determined, or efficient sup- 
porter than Prof. John Keith. The latter readily fore- 
saw the immense advantage these waterways would be, 
not merely to the State, but to the entire continent, for 
he believed they could l)e connected so as to open up 
communication with, the Mississippi. He advocated 
their construction as a matter of practical necessity, and 
his position as a professor in Columbia College gave 
great weight to his words. In 1810 he visited Lake Erie 
to examine into the feasibility of the proposed Erie Ca- 
nal, and made private surveys and calculations, with the 



EDUCATORS. 287 

result that he fully demonstrated the entire practicabil- 
ity of the waterway long before any authoritative survey 
had passed judgment upon the scheme. It is a pity that 
he was not spared to see the great work fairly entered 
upon, but he died in 1812, when the whole scheme was 
in that stage of all great American measures when it was 
simply a football for politicians. 

Among the names of the early professors in Princeton 
College none is more highly cherished than that of John 
Maclean, who became Professor of Chemistry and Nat- 
ural History in that young institution in 1795, the year 
after President Witherspoon had passed to the rest he 
had craved and the reward he had earned, and been suc- 
ceeded by his son-in-law. President Stanhope Smith. 
Dr. Maclean was born at Glasgow in 1771, and studied 
medicine in Edinburgh, London, Glasgow, and Paris. 
His travels and reading, and his own personal observa- 
tion of European Governments, had made him become 
a thorough believer in a republican form of govern- 
ment, and led him, when his studies were completed, to 
throw in his lot with the United States. He settled in 
Princeton in 1791, and, with the encouragement of Dr. 
Witherspoon and the then limited Faculty, commenced 
lecturing on chemistry before becoming a member of 
the professorial stafif. He continued to fill a chair in 
Princeton till 181 2, when he resigned to accept the Chair 
of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in William and 
Mary College. That post he resigned in the course of a 
year on account of ill-health, and he died in 1814. His 
memoir was written by his son, John Maclean, who was 
born at Princeton, in 1798, and graduated from the col- 
lege there in 181 6. The story of this man's life was 
bound up with that of the college of New Jersey, and to 
his enthusiasm and learning, as well as to his industry 
as a professor and executive ability as its President, it 
owed much of its renown as a seat of learning. He be- 
came President in 1854, and continued to fill the office 
until 1868, when he resigned the dignity into the hands 
of Prof. McCosh, but the remaining years during which 
his life was prolonged (he died in 1886) were devoted to 



288 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

advocating the interests of the college in every way that 
lay in his power. President Maclean's name is yet one 
of the most honored on the roll of Princeton's teachers. 

Another of the early professors of Princeton of whom 
mention might be made was Walter Minto, who was 
born at Coldingham in 1753, and after graduating from 
Edinburgh University became tutor in the family of 
George Johnstone, once Governor of West Florida, (see 
page 80,) and traveled with his charges over the Con- 
tinent of Europe. When that position could no longer 
be retained, Minto became a private tutor of mathemat- 
ics in Edinburgh, but his prospects were not inviting, 
and he emigrated in 1786, hoping to find some oppor- 
tunity in the New World. A year later he was appoint- 
ed to the Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy 
in Princeton, and filled that position with much bril- 
liancy until his death, in 1796. Professor Minto received 
in 1787 the degree of LL. D. from Aberdeen Univer- 
sity, and was the author of several interesting works, 
the best remembered of which is " An Account of the 
Life and Writings of John Napier of Merchiston," 
which was published in 1787, and professed to be writ- 
ten in conjunction with Lord Buchan, a celebrated ama- 
teur scientist and would-be patron of learning of the 
time. 

Reference has already been made to the Scotch found- 
er of William and Mary College. But many more 
Scotch founders of institutions devoted to higher educa- 
tion could readily be named. Dalhousie College, in 
Halifax, was organized mainly through the exertions of 
one of the holders of that peerage, and Morrin College, 
Quebec, was founded by a native of Dumfries-shire, who 
had long practiced medicine in that historic city. Bishop 
John McLean of Saskatchewan, a native of Portree, 
founded Emmanuel College, of which lie became War- 
den, and held that office, as well as its Chair of Divinity, 
at his death, in 1886. 

Judging by results, one of the most noteworthy, if not 
the most noteworthy, of Scottish college founders was 
James McGill of Montreal, to whose wise philanthropv 



EDUCATORS. 289 

that city owes the great seat of learning which bears 
his name and of which it is so justly proud. McGill was 
born at Glasgow in 1744. After settling in Canada, he 
engaged in the fur trade for a time, but afterward made 
his home in Montreal, where he entered into business as 
a merchant. He was successful from the start, and 
quickly won a large fortune. For several years he rep- 
resented Montreal in the Parliament of Lower Canada, 
and became a member of the Legislative and Executive 
Councils. His whole life was an example of patriotism, 
and was devoted to the advancement of the highest in- 
terests of the city in which he had his home, and in 
which he had risen to the most honorable eminence. 
Connected by marriage with one of the most aristocratic 
of the old French families in the city, he had the social 
entree to both the English and French speaking circles, 
and was held in the highest esteem in these exclusive 
sets, as well as by all classes in the community. His pa- 
triotic instincts even induced him to apply himself to 
military matters. He became an officer in the militia 
service, and in the War of 181 2 rose to the rank of Brig- 
adier General. Throughout his life, Mr. McGill was 
prominent in Montreal for his charitable gifts. He was 
noted for his practical ideas in connection with his giv- 
ing, but the most conspicuous proof of this was given 
when, after his death, on Dec. 19, 1813, it was found 
that he had bequeathed over £30,000 in property and 
£10,000 in cash for the foundation of a great university 
in Montreal. The bequest was not at once made avail- 
able, for litigation — that bane of will-making all over 
America, and which has so often upset from trivial 
causes many kindly intentions — interfered, and it was 
not until 1821 that the obstacles were cleared away and 
the institution established, with full university powers, 
l)y royal charter. The real estate left by Mr. McGill 
steadily continued to increase in value, and when the 
magnificent mission of the institution began to become 
apparent, many of Montreal's citizens liberally contrib- 
uted to its resources, either by contributions or be- 
quests. Thus, Miss Barbara Scott bequeathed $30,000 



290 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

for a Chair of Civil Engineering, Major Mills $42,000 
for a Chair of Classics, ivlr. David Greenshields $40,000 
for a Chair of Chemistry, and Mrs. Andrew Stewart 
$25,000 for a Chair of Law. Writing- in 1884, Mr. S. E. 
Dawson said: ** The latest large benefaction which it 
has received is the Peter Redpath Musenm, which was 
erected by the Scot whose name it bears at a cost of 
about $120,000, and contains very valuable collections, 
more especially in geology and mineralogy. The uni- 
versity has four faculties — of Arts, Applied Science, 
Medicine, and Law. Being non-denominational, it has 
no theological faculty, but it olifers advantageous terms 
of affiliation to theological colleges, whereby their stu- 
dents can have the benefits of its classes and degrees, 
and it has already four such colleges, representing four 
of the leading Protestant denominations. * * * Its 
buildings are pleasantly situated in grounds laid out in 
walks and ornamented with trees at the foot of the 
Montreal Mountain, and, though most of them are un- 
pretending in exterior, they are substantially built of 
stone and are well adapted for the purposes of education. 
It has an excellent philosophical apparatus and collec- 
tions of models in mining and engineering, and also 
good chemical and physiological laboratories. It has a 
library of 25,000 volumes, in addition tO' its medical 
library, and, though these libraries are not large, they 
include an unusually choice and valuable selection of 
books. Tliough the university has existed since 1821, and 
its endowment since 1813, its actual history as an im- 
portant educational institution dates from the amend- 
ment of its charter and the reorganization of its general 
body in 1852. It is thus a comparatively new institu- 
tion, and is, perhaps, to be judged rather by indications 
of vitality and growth which it presents rather than by 
its past results. It has, however, already more than 
1,200 graduates, many of them occupying important 
public positions in Canada and elsewhere.'' 

Among the colleges affiliated with McGill Liniversity 
are Morrin College, of which mention has already been 
made, and the Presbyterian College of Montreal. This 



EDUCATORS. 291 

latter institution was founded ni 1865 for the training of 
ministers and missionaries in connection with the Pres- 
byterian Church in Canada. Its origin was very hum- 
ble, but in 1893 its endowment was valued at $16,000, it 
owned property worth $225,000, and its annual income^ 
was $12,600. " The college," according to Mr. Dawson, 
" has found many generous benefactors. Among them 
are Mrs. Redpath, who endowed one of the chairs with 
$20,000, and the late Mr. Edward Mackay, who gave 
$40,000 to the endowment in his lifetime. The sum of 
$10,000 was bequeathed by Mr. Joseph Mackay for the 
same purpose." 

It is impossible to estimate the amount of good, not 
merely in the education of young men, but in the cause 
of patriotism of the purest sort, that year after year is ac- 
complished by the single agency begun by the thought- 
ful bequest of James McGill. Such institutions stand for 
much more in a community than merely advanced schools 
or degree-conferring establishments. They foster a na- 
tional spirit much more potent and far-reaching than 
a standing army and they develop a sentiment of pride 
in the present progress toward nationality and hope for 
its perfect realization in the near future. Without such 
institutions as McGill University, Toronto University, 
Knox College, and the other institutions of higher edu- 
cation with which Canada is so plentifully supplied, it 
would still be in the colonial stage. With them it is a 
nation in all but in name, and that name will undoubt- 
edly be willingly given to it as soon as its races become 
a little more blended together, if the sentiment of the 
nation does not induce it to remain, as now, an integral 
and honored factor in the British Empire. No one wdio 
knows Canada believes it will ever consent to be oblit- 
erated by annexation. 

While we are across the border and dealing with col- 
leges founded there by Scotch benefactors, it may not 
be out of place to mention a few representatives of the 
thousands of teachers which Scotland has given to the 
Dominion. There is not a college or university in Can- 
ada where at least one " son of the heather " is not to 



292 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

be found in some capacity, and the entire educational 
system of the country, from primary school to univer- 
sity, is more indebted to the Scottish section of the com- 
mnuity than to any other. It is the Scotch element, in 
fact, that has made education become the prime factor 
in Canadian public life, so important an office in the 
general and provincial Governments, it is to-day. 

Daniel Wilkie was born near Hamilton in 1777. He 
was the youngest of twelve children and was left an 
orphan in early life. His education was undertaken at 
the expense of his elder brothers, who' designed him for 
the ministry, and with this object in view he went to 
Glasgow University, after passing through the grammar 
school of Hamilton. In 1797 he entered the Divinity 
Hall and won the first prize, a medal for an essay on the 
Socinian controversy- — a controversy that then and for 
more than half a century afterward seriously troubled 
the Kirk and which still bobs up now and again. In 1807 
Wilkie crossed over to Canada, and in the same year 
was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Montreal. 
He was sound and orthodox in his pulpit ministrations 
and might have passed his life in the work of the min- 
istry, or he might have confined himself to literature, 
for as editor during three years of a Quebec newspaper 
he won many high encomiums for his work. But teach- 
ing was his real mission, his hobby. For over forty 
vears he was engaged in teaching in Quebec, and in 
that respect was one of the most successful in Canada. 
Hundreds of pupils passed through his hands each year, 
and toward the close of his career he could point to 
his " old boys " occupying positions of distinction or 
prominence in every walk of life throughout Canada. 
Probably the happiest day of his life was that on which 
the High School of Quebec was opened, and thus was 
realized a dream he had long cherished. This was in 
1843, ^^""^ ^s rector he hoped to enter upon a new and 
extended lease of usefulness, but ill-health compelled 
his retirement within a year and the remainder of his 
days were spent in privacy, sometimes in gloom, for 
toward the end his mind gave way. As the night was 



EDUCATORS. 293 

falling- he forgot everything save the words of Divine 
truth. When he had forgotten all about the classics 
he could still read and quote Scripture, and as the end 
drew nearer every feature of his once varied and aggres- 
sive character seemed to disappear excepting that of 
love. Dr. Wilkie was buried in Mount Hermon Ceme- 
tery, Quebec, and his grave was marked by a handsome 
monument erected by a number of his old pupils. 

The funeral discourse that was delivered over the 
body of the dead teacher was one of the most beautiful 
of its kind ever heard in Canada. Its speaker was the 
Rev. Dr. John Cook of Quebec, himself a teacher of 
note, as well as one of the most influential divines of 
his time in Canada. He was a native of Dumfries-shire, 
and had studied at Edinburgh under the great Dr. Chal- 
mers, settling in Canada in 1836. In the divisions which 
entered the Church in Canada consequent upon the 
Disruption in Scotland, Dr. Cook took a prominent 
part, not only counseling adherence on the part of the 
Canadian Presbyterians to the old Church, but after the 
schism did take place striving; hard to effect a reunion. 
In the foundation of Queens College, Kingston, he took 
a deep interest. He was one of the delegation that went 
to Great Britain to obtain its charter, and afterward be- 
came one of its trustees. Urged in 1857 to act as Prin- 
cipal of the college, he agreed to fill the office until the 
faculty could secure the services of some one else, and 
he continued as Principal for two years, during which 
time he taught the divinity class. Then he was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. William Leitch, a native of Rothe- 
say, and who was minister of Monimail when he was 
summoned to Kingston, (where he died in 1864.) It 
was through Dr. Cook's influence that the Quebec High 
School was founded in 1843. For years he was the 
l)ackbone of the institution, and to him more than to 
any one else was it indebted for triumphing over, its 
many early difficulties and developing into one of the 
foremost institutions of its class in Canada. In con- 
nection with Morrin College, Dr. Cook's name was also 
conspicuous. 



294 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Another name which stands out prominently in the 
history of education in Canada is that of the Rev. Dr. 
Michael Willis, Principal of Knox College. He was 
born in Greenock, where his father (afterward of Stirling) 
was for many years a minister. For twenty-five years 
after leaving college Dr. Willis held pastoral charges in 
Scotland, in the old Secession Church, and threw in his 
lot with the Free Church when that denomination 
sprang into existence. It was by a vote of the Colonial 
Board of that Church that he was selected to the Chair 
of Divinity in Knox College, and though the change 
was stoutly opposed by his congregation in Renficld 
Street, Glasgow, he felt that duty and conscience called 
him " over the sea." His long connection with Knox 
College, as teacher and Principal, was a very valuable 
one to the Church in Canada, and he not only aided 
greatly in giving to the students the thorough teaching 
which made a Knox College graduate so acceptable to 
the ranks of the ministry, but he infused into every one 
of his pupils a catholicity of taste and a non-sectarian 
spirit which led them to place the simple truths of Christ's 
teaching above all creeds or denominational barriers. 
He was a determined opponent of any union between 
Church and State and spoke and wrote against it on all 
occasions, but so honest were his utterances and so 
lovable was his character, that his outspokenness raised 
him no enemies even among those who were as zealous 
in the opposite direction. 

Treating of Knox College recalls a flood of Scotch 
professors, among* whom we will mention only one, Dr. 
Robert Burns, who from 1856 till 1864 occupied its 
Chair of Church History and Apologetics. Dr. Burns 
was born at Bo'ness in 1798 and for some thirty years 
preached in Paisley, from the same pulpit that had once 
been occupied by Dr. Witherspoon. At the Disruption 
he " came out " and, crossing to Canada, became minis- 
ter of Knox Church, Toronto, and remained there until 
he entered the faculty of the college. He was a man of 
great learning and culture and an amiable and thorough- 
going preacher. Outside of the ministry he took a spe- 



EDUCATORS. 295 

cial interest in poor-law matters, and wrote nmch on that 
and other subjects. Dr. Burns will, however, be best re- 
membered by his carefully edited edition of " Wood- 
row's History of the Sufferings." 

Many other names crowd upon us, such as that of 
A^ice Principal Leach of McGill College, Montreal, a 
native of Berwick on Tweed; Dr. Inglis of Char- 
lottetown, a native of Montrose; Principal McVicar of 
McGill College, and his brother, Prof. Malcolm Mc- 
\'icar of Toronto. But we must cross the St. Lawrence 
again, or the rush of Canadian teachers demanding no- 
tice would swamp this chapter. 

One of the most industrious and painstaking of scien- 
tific students of whom we have record was Granville 
Sharp Pattison, who was for many years teacher of anat- 
omy in the University of the City of New York and 
was engaged m that capacity at the time of his death, 
in 1 85 1. He was born near GlasgDw in 1791, and was 
for a time lecturer on anatomy in the Andersonian Col- 
lege, in that city. After settling in America he became 
Professor of Anatomy in the Medical College at Balti- 
more. After many years' residence in the Monumental 
City he enjoyed a short vacation in Europe, and then 
took the Chair of Anatomy in Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia. He was recognized there as one of 
the ablest men in his profession, a particularly pains- 
taking demonstrator, and won the confidence and re- 
spect of the students who attended his lectures. His 
contributions to medical literature in the shape of 
pamphlets and papers in transactions were highly praised 
in their time, but they have long since served their day 
and generation and been relegated to the honorable con- 
dition of scientific curiosities like most medical works 
after a very brief season of popularity or usefulness. 

In the annals of education in the L'uited States no 
name stands out more boldly not only for his know- 
ledge of the science of pedagogy, but for the manner 
in which he advocated its highest interests and directed 
public opinion in its advancement than that of William 
Russell, who, besides understanding the theory of teach- 



296 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ing, was himself a practical and successful instructor. 
Born in Glasgow in 1798, he settled in Savannah, Ga., 
in 1819 and took charge of Chatham Academy there. 
After a few years' experience in Savannah, he removed 
to New Haven, and taught in the new Township Acad- 
emy and the Hopkins Grammar School, the latter one 
of the schools founded by Edward Hopkins, an English 
trader, who died at London in 1657, and whose gifts to 
the cause of education in America have done more to 
keep his memory alive than the important position he 
held in New England for many years. 

All this time, while teaching, Mr. Russell had been 
studying the entire science of pedagogy, and the fruits 
of this were seen in the masterly manner in which for 
some four years, 1826-29, he conducted the " American 
Journal of Education." Removing in 1830 to Phila- 
delphia he took charge of a ladies' seminary. In 1838 
he returned to New England and devoted himself to the 
teaching of elocution in Boston and Andover, lecturing 
at frequent intervals to teachers through New England 
and in New York. In 1849 he organized a teachers' in- 
stitute in New Haven and removed its headcjuarters to 
Lancaster, Mass., where he remained until his death, in 
1873. For the last ten years of his life he lectured fre- 
quently before teachers' institutes throughout Massa- 
chusetts and was recognized as one of the leading and 
most successful instructors of the day in his own spe- 
cialty, that of elocution. He was the author of many 
popular and highly practical schoolbooks, including 
" The Grammar of Composition," " American Elocu- 
tionist," and a dozen others. 

One of the best-known educators in New York for 
many years was Charles Murray Nairne, who from 1857 
to 1881 was Professor of Moral Philosophy in Columbia 
College. He was born at Perth in 1808, graduated from 
St. Andrews in 1832, and afterward extended his studies 
at Edinburgh Lhiiversity. For a short time he was 
associated at Glasgow with Dr. Chalmers, but in 1847 
he left Scotland, and soon after reaching the LTnited 
States found a position as teacher at College Hill, 



EDUCATORS. 297 

Poughkccpsie. Then he opened a private school in 
New York City, and continned to cordnct it with every 
success that can attend a teacher until he became con- 
nected with Columbia, He retired into private life with 
the dignity and title of an emeritus professor of Columbia 
in 1881 and died a year later at VVarrenton, Va. 

Another noted New York teacher was David Burnet 
Scott, who died in 1894. " He had been connected," 
said one of the newspapers which recorded his death, 
" with the public school system of New York City from 
its beginning", and as a teacher, a successful schoolbook 
writer, and a public speaker prominently identified with 
the great political movements of his day, he was a well- 
known and highly respected man." Prof. Scott was 
born at Edinburgh in 1822 and educated at the High 
School with the view of being sent to St. Andrews Uni- 
versity. Circumstances, however, compelled his father 
to emigrate, and the family settled near Hartford, Conn., 
where young Scott worked for a time with his father 
as a tailor. He kept up his studies, however, while 
working " on the board," and in time obtained a posi- 
tion as instructor of classics in Hartford High School. 
In 1845 ^1^ settled in New York, and for many years 
was connected, as teacher and Principal, with the pub- 
lic schools. In 1870 he became Principal of the intro- 
ductory department of the College of the City of New 
York and afterward was transferred to the Chair of 
English Literature, which he filled till his death. He 
was the author of three school histories of the United 
States and other works which enjoyed a wide circula- 
tion and were, and still are, eminently useful. 

Prominent as he was in connection with his duties as 
a teacher, Prof. Scott became more widely and popu- 
larly known by the force he exerted in public affairs, 
by the boldness and originality of his views on social 
economy and by the brilliant manner in which he gave 
expression to them. He was an ardent and uncompro- 
mising Abolitionist and aided in the formation of the 
Republican Party. Afterward, when he thought that 
party had fulfilled its mission, he desired to see another 



298 'THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

movement come into operation, and he found what he 
wanted in the single-tax theories of Henry George. In 
1886 he threw himself heartily into Mr. George's candi- 
dature for the Mayoralty of New York, This move- 
ment started in a very half-hearted manner, speedily as- 
sumed great proportions, and ended in a magnificent 
run on the part of Mr. George. That gentleman was de- 
feated, but his large vote surprised even his friends 
and demonstrated that there was a very large body of 
citizens who cared little for either of the two predomi- 
nating parties. To this end, Prof. Scott signally con- 
tributed by his voice, his pen, and his example, and 
thereby earned the thanks of all interested in improving 
the system of municipal government not only in New 
York, but throughout the United States. 

A friend recently sent us the following cutting from 
an American paper, which is interesting at least for the 
many brilliant names it contains, apart from the record 
it gives us of a Scot who devoted the best years of his 
life to the cause of education in America: 

" The Rev. Dr. R. A. Paterson, late President of 
Binghamton College and founder of the first women's 
training college in America, has returned (1894) to Edin- 
burgh, Scotland, his native city, to resume the pastor- 
ate after forty years' absence in this country. He and 
Baron Playfair, Prof. P. G. Tait, the first scientist in 
Edinburgh, and the late Prof. James Clark Maxwell, 
the foremost scientist and Professor of Experimental 
Physics in Cambridge, were all boys in Edinburgh to- 
gether in the forties, and Paterson, Tait, and Maxwell 
were university classmates under James Forbes, Chris- 
topher North, and Sir William Hamilton. Dr. Paterson 
came to this country in 1852, to be the tutor of the Hon. 
Charles Ellis and the Hon. Edward Ellis, now proprie- 
tors of the Schenectady Locomotive Works." 

We have reserved, as a fitting name to close this 
chapter, the name of William Wood, not only because 
of his grand services to education, but because his serv- 
ices were in reality typical of the devotion to that cause 
of thousands of Scotsmen who have no connection 



EDUCATORS. 299 

with teaching as a profession and devote themselves to 
promoting it l)ecause its advancement is one of the 
intuitive duties of their race, and because by spreading 
broadcast the blessings of education they are thereby 
advancing the best interests of their adopted country. 
Thousands of Scotsmen in America have served upon 
boards of education or as regents or trustees of univer- 
sities or colleges, and thereby performed one of the 
highest services which patriotism can inspire. 

Pre-eminent among such public benefactors must 
linger the memory of William Wood. He was born in 
Glasgow in 1808 and belonged to that Dennistoun fam- 
ily which has given its name to one of the sections of 
the Western Metropolis of Scotland. He was educated 
at the Universities of Glasgow and St. Andrews, and at 
the latter place had for one of his teachers Dr. Thomas 
Chalmers, a fact of which he was very proud and never 
tired of recalling in his public addresses. 

Throughout his long life he remained a diligent stu- 
dent. President Hunter, of the New York Normal Col- 
lege, said of him: " In 1870 he got out of the Board of 
Education to study up on his Greek because he felt he 
was a little rusty. His memory for poetry was marvel- 
ous, and I have heard him repeat verses by the hour. 
His favorites were Wordsw'orth, Coleridge, and Southey." 

Mr. Wood came to America in 1828 and begun his 
commercial career. After several years' American expe- 
rience he returned to Scotland, remaining there till 1844, 
when he once more settled in New York as a partner 
in the firm of Dennistoun, Wood & Co. This partner- 
ship continued till 1868, when Mr. Wood retired from 
business. The first year Mr. Wood saw New York he 
joined the St. Andrew's Society, believing that tO' be a 
duty, and he served it in many capacities — two years as 
President — and for some time prior to his death was its 
oldest member. He was a regular attendant at the St. 
Andrew's Day celebrations, and very frequently re- 
sponded to toasts, the last occasion being in 1893, some 
ten months before his death, when, visibly failing, he 
made a reminiscent speech ,in response to " The day and 



300 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

a' wha honor it." He spoke of the many similar meet- 
ings he had attended, and then, as if conscious that that 
was tO' be the last, he closed by quoting Tennyson's 
famous "Crossing the Bar": 

" Sunset and evening star. 

And one clear call for me. 
And may there be no moaning of the bar 

When I put out to sea. 



For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crost the bar." 

With these words the old man left the banqueting 
room and virtually closed his public appearances. These 
had been many, for Mr. Wood was a magnificent speak- 
er, and a popular man, and when in the hey-day of his 
strength his services were often in demand at gatherings 
of all sorts. Possibly the most noted of these occasions 
was in Central Park, at the unveiling of the Scott statue, 
on Aug. 15, 1871, when he delivered an oration which 
w^as regarded as the best example of Scotch eloquence 
ever heard in America. His public career may be said 
to have conmienced in 1869, when he was appointed a 
Commissioner of Public Instruction. He continued for 
the rest of his life to have a potent influence on the 
education board in the city, even in the intervals when 
he was not connected with it as its President or as a mem- 
ber. He also served for a time as one of the Dock Com- 
missioners of the city. In 1888 he retired from offtcial 
life, and was publicly thanked for his services to New 
York by the then Mayor, A. S. Hewitt. From that time 
until his death, in 1894, Mr. Wood spent his days in 
pleasant retirement, taking a keen interest in passing 
affairs, holding fast to old friends, but seldom going be- 
vond the limits of his own immediate circle. 



CHAPTER X. 

STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 

WE enter upon the subject-matter of this chapter witli 
fear and with trembUng-, and would fain dismiss it alto- 
gether, pass its theme by, as it were, but for the sake 
of the completeness of our survey of the Scot in Amer- 
ica. The subject is practically an inexhaustible one. 
From the beginning of the Colonial history Scots have 
been prominent in public affairs, and at the present 
time it is safe to say there is not a Legislature or mu- 
nicipality in the country that cannot produce one or 
more members who are able to trace Scotch blood in their 
veins. The connection of the Scots with America, in 
fact, began long before the Colonial period, and has 
steadily waxed in importance and numerical strength 
ever since. Sometimes, we must confess, the claim of 
Scotch descent is decidedly infinitesimal, but the claim, 
even when made on the slenderest grounds, is a compli- 
ment to the " Land of the Heather." 

However that may be, there is no question that a 
complete survey of the story of the Scottish race in 
America, even within the limitations imposed by the 
title to this chapter, would bring us face to face with 
the task of writing a tolerably complete American dic- 
tionary of biography. Thomas Jefferson, James Madi- 
son, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, Andrew Jackson, 
Thomas Benton, John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, 
J. C. Breckinridge, U. S. Grant, R. B. Hayes, Chester 
A. Arthur, and James G. Blaine, all claimed descent 
from Scotland, and so did Robert Fulton, the steamboat 
pioneer; C. H. McCormick, of thrashing machine fame; 
301 



302 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Davy Crockett, the fighter; Joseph Henry, the scientist, 
and if the student of this subject were to incorporate, as 
he would have a perfect right to do, the legion describing 
themselves as of the Scotch-Irish race, he would be con- 
fronted with an appalling task. Even George Wash- 
ington had a little mixture of Scotch blood in his com- 
position — so it is said. 

In these circumstances it is absolutely necessary to 
draw the line somewhere, and instead of attempting 
anything like a complete survey, to rest content with 
selecting a few instances from early times until the 
present day. Of course many who might claim a place 
in this chapter have already been spoken of in other 
connections, and so we must pass over a large number 
of names which would add greatly to the brilliancy of 
the present record. 

One of the earliest of the minor Scotch office hold- 
ers in the history of the continent was Thomas Gordon, 
who was born at Pitlochry, in the parish of Moulin, 
Perthshire, in 1650. In 1684 he settled at Scotch Plains, 
and in 1698 was elected Attorney General of the East- 
ern district of Jersey and Secretary and Registrar in 
1702. Despite these legal appointments, it was not until 
1707 that he was licensed as an attorney, and the same 
year he was elected to the Legislature and served as 
Speaker of the Assembly. These appointments and 
elections show that he must have enjoyed considerable 
popularity among his fellow colonists. P>ut he rose still 
higher when he was appointed Chief Justice of the 
Province, and, later on, its Receiver General and Treas- 
urer. He died at Perth Amboy in 1722, having a record 
as an office holder that would have won for him the envy 
of a modern politician had he lived in later times and 
been as successful. But, unlike the majority of modern 
instances of success in that regard, old Thomas Gor- 
don's good fortune was undoubtedly due to his honesty 
and ability, two qualities which do not figure very large- 
ly in the qualities of our contemporary office seekers. 

A man who loomed up even more prominently in the 
public eye of his day was Andrew Hamilton, who was 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 303 

called by Gouverneur Morris " the day star of the Amer- 
ican Revolution." There is a good deal of mystery about 
the early career of this man. He was born, it is believed, 
in Edinburgh about 1656 and settled in the American 
colonies in 1695. Of his family or history until landing 
in America nothing is certain. For some reason or 
other he never referred to such matters. It is known, 
however, that when he first settled in the Colonies he 
bore the name of Trent, although he soon discarded it 
for Hamilton, which is believed to have been that of 
his family. Probably he was concerned in some of the 
Covenanting troubles and his own strict religious views 
would seem to warrant this suggestion, for when he 
settled in Philadelphia he was received into communion 
by the Quakers and was one of the most strait-laced of 
that sect, although a lawyer. His first resting place in 
America was in Accomac Parish, Virginia, where he 
got a position as steward on an estate and added to his 
income by conducting a classical school. After a while 
the owner of the estate died and the widow became the 
wife of Hamilton, who thereby not only became a land- 
ed proprietor, but at once got a standing in social life 
which started him in a signally favorable way toward 
the success which he afterward attained. He entered 
upon the study of the law with all the zeal of a deter- 
mined Scot, and in due time was admitted to practice. 
Then, seeing that the opportunities of the profession 
lay in the large cities, he removed to Philadelphia, and 
as the saying goes, " hung out his shingle.'' This was 
some time prior to 1716. In 1717 he became Attorney 
General of Pennsylvania, and in 1721 a member of the 
Provincial Council. He became Recorder of Philadel- 
phia in 1727, and the same year was elected a member 
of Assembly from Bucks County. He continued to be a 
Representative until 1739, and was several times Speaker 
of Assembly. It is worthy of note that the ground on 
which Independence Hall in Philadelphia stands was 
bought by Hamilton for the purpose of the erection of 
a suitable building to accommodate the Legislature 
aufJ the courts, these public bodies having previously 



304 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

been sheltered in private houses, and, though the scheme 
was not completed until after Hamilton's death, it is 
curious to know that a spot so famous in the history 
of the country and so sacred to every lover of freedom 
was once in the possession of one whose country has 
been famous for its struggles on behalf of liberty. 

Notwithstanding his public duties, Hamilton contin- 
ued zealously to practice his profession, and gradually 
advanced to the front until lie became the undisputed 
leader of the Pennsylvania bar. His fame had extended 
far beyond the boundaries of his own State — and fame 
did not travel as quickly Uien as now — and he was noted 
not only for his fearlessness in mairitaining the rights 
of his clients, but in his adherence to what he perceived 
to be the rights of all citizens and the inherent liberties 
of the Colonies. All this gave him the opportunity which 
has won him a place in American history and caused 
Gouverneur A'lorris to characterize him by the proud 
title with which we began our reference to him, a title 
which any American family would be proud to possess 
among its ancestral glories. 

A printer in New York — John Peter Zenger — had 
printed in the columns of the " New York Journal," a 
little newspaper issued by him, some strictures on the 
then Chief Magistrate, Gov. Crosby. The strictures were 
very unpalatable, mainly because they were for the most 
part true, and as a warning to others, as much as for 
his own offenses, Zenger was arrested. It was proposed 
to deal summarily with the prisoner, but public interest 
was aroused in his case, and it was seen that if he was 
convicted all hope of free speech would, for the time 
at least, be gone. x'Vs the public became interested the 
authorities became determined and harsh. In pursuance 
of his rights Zenger's counsel made an objection to the 
Judges who were to try the case, and they were prompt- 
ly disbarred, while a lawyer was assigned by the court 
to carry on the defense. All this time public sentiment 
had been forming and consolidating, and the " Sons of 
Liberty," as representatives of the spirit of liberty among 
the people, took a hand in fighting the Executive and 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 305 

in defending' what they regarded as the inalienable rights 
of all freemen — that of free speech and discussion. When 
Zenger was finally called on to face a jury, the authori- 
ties were confident of making short work of his case 
and of establishing a precedent which would crush out 
what they deemed " sedition " in the future. It was not 
known to them that Zenger's friends were doing any 
practical work on his behalf, but they were better 
enliglitened when the court was open and Andrew Ham- 
ilton walked in and announced that he had been re- 
tained as counsel for the prisoner. The fame of the ven- 
erable attorney, his standing at the bar, the prominent 
offices he had held, and his position as a member of 
Assembly forbade his being- treated in the sunniiary 
fashion of Zenger's earlier counsel, and the representa- 
tives of the prosecution could do nothing but submit. 
They had great hopes from the jury, and, besides, they 
knew that the Judges were with them. 

The prosecution held that all the jury had to deter- 
nnne was whether the publication which was scheduled 
as libelous had appeared, and that they had nothing to 
do with the truth or falsity of the libel. Hamilton de- 
murred from this, saying he was prepared to admit the 
publication of the strictures and tO' prove their truth, 
leaving the issue to the jury to be whether truth was a 
libel or not. He W'as overruled by the Court on the 
inferred ground that anything reflecting on the King 
was a libel. Hamilton then denied that the King's rep- 
resentative had the same prerogatives as the sovereign 
himself, and claimed the right of proving the truth of 
every statement that had been made in Zenger's paper. 
This the Court again overruled, and Hamilton confined 
his attention to the jury and made a glowing speech on 
behalf of personal liberty and the right of free criticism, 
which still ranks as one of the masterpieces of Ameri- 
can legal eloquence. His speech was productive of ef- 
fect far beyond the limits of the courtroom in which it 
was delivered, or the case in which it was used. It started 
a train of thought which fired men's minds and did more 
than anything else to give expression to the popular 



306 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

desire for freedom — for the freedom which the people 
deemed their birthright as British subjects — for inde- 
pendence was not then thought of, though it was the 
natural and unavoidable result, as men's minds and 
men's experience then went in Britain and in America. 
He practically admitted again the publication of the 
words deemed libelous. " Then the verdict must be for 
the King," broke in the prosecuting attorney. But Ham- 
ilton proceeded to contend that, the words must be con- 
sidered by the jury as to whether they constituted a 
libel or no, and quoted texts of Scripture to show how 
even they might be considered as libelous, by a zealous 
lawyer, against the then government of the Colony. 
Therefore he urged the jury, even though the Court 
might decide otherwise, to consider the words for them- 
selves, and put their own construction on them. In con- 
cluding he said: "You see I labor under the weight 
of many years, and am borne down by many infirmities 
of body; yet, old and weak as I am, I should think it 
my duty, if recjuired, to go to the uttermost part of the 
land wdiere my service could be of any use in assisting 
to quench the flame of prosecutions tipon informations 
set on foot by the Government to deprive a people of 
the right of remonstrating and complaining, too, against 
the arbitrary attempts of men in power. Men who op- 
press and injure the people under their administration 
provoke them to cry out and complain, and then make 
that very complaint the foundation for new oppressions 
and prosecutions. '■"' * * The question before the court 
is not of small or private concern. It is not the cause of 
a poor printer nor of New York alone which you are 
now trying. No! It may in its consequences affect 
every freeman that lives under the British Government 
upon the main of America. It is the best cause; it is the 
cause of liberty; and I make no doubt but your upright 
conduct this day wall not only entitle you to the love and 
esteem of your fellow-citizens, but every man who pre- 
fers freedom to a life of slavery will bless and honor 
you as men who have baffled the attempts of tyranny, 
and by an impartial and incorrupt verdict, have made a 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 307 

noble foundation for securing to ourselves and our pos- 
terity and our neighbors that to which nature and the 
laws of our country have given us a right — the liberty 
of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power in these 
parts of the world, at least by speaking and writing 
truth." 

The prosecution replied, and the Court charged 
against the prisoner, l)ut Hamilton's eloquence was irre- 
sistible, and the jury, after a few minutes' deliberation, 
acquitted Zenger, much to the disgust of the powers. 
iJut the public delight was unbounded, and Hamilton 
became the hero of the hour. The next day he was 
entertained at a public dinner, received the freedom of 
the city from the corporation, the certificate being in- 
closed in a gold box purchased by private subscription, 
and he was escorted by a large crowd to the barge which 
was to carry him back to Philadelphia. Hamilton died 
in Philadelphia, in 1741. Plis son, James, became Gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania. 

Sometimes, in the course of this work, we have traced 
the fortunes of a family for two or three generations, 
mainly for the sake of showing how the qualities which 
distinguished the founder have not been lost in his de- 
scendants. Another instance of the same sort may be 
recorded in this place in connection with the Auchmuty 
family. The firs*, of the name to settle in America was 
Robert Auchmuty — born in Fifeshire, in 1670. His 
American experiences seem to have been confined to 
Boston, where he appears to have arrived in 1699, and 
at once assumed a prominent position as a lawyer. He 
was active in local afifairs, and was held in general es- 
teem. In 1741 he was sent to England as agent for the 
Colony of l\Iassachusetts, an appointment that is sutft- 
cient testimony to his standing as a citizen and his hon- 
esty as a man. He died, in Boston, in 1750. His eldest 
son succeeded to his law business, and carried it on in 
Boston until 1776, when, being an iritense loyalist, he 
left the country and went to Britain, where he remained 
till his death. 

A younger son, Samuel, born in Boston in 1722, was 



308 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

educated for the ministry, and became assistant rector of 
Trinity Church, New York, becoming rector in 1764. 
The Revolution brought him into a sea of troubles. As 
intensely loyal as his brother, he continued to read pray- 
ers for George III. long after the Revolution had broken 
out and the rule of monarchy was declared at an end. 
When ordered by Gen. Alexander, titular Earl of Stir- 
ling, to discontinue such loyal petitions, he closed the 
church and left the city. New York was at that time in 
possession of the Continental troops, and when, by a 
turn in the tide of war, it fell again into the hands of the 
British, in 1777, Dr. Auchmuty returned to his post of 
duty, only to find his beloved church in ruins and its 
records destroyed. The shock was too much for him, 
and he died, broken-hearted, in March, 1777. His son, 
Samuel, born in New York in 1758, entered the British 
Army and served in it during the Revolutionary War. 
Obtaining a Captaincy, he served in India from 1783 
to 1796, and in 1800 was in Egypt under Abercrombie. 
In 1803, for his services, he was knighted, and soon 
after proceeded to South America, where he distin- 
guished himself by his skill and bravery. In 1811 he 
reduced Java, and was regarded as one of the best of- 
ficers in the service. Returning to Britain, he was com- 
missioned a Lieutenant General in 181 3. He died at 
Dublin, in 1822, while Commander in Chief of the forces 
in Ireland, leaving behind him the record of a long and 
honorable career, unmarked by reproach or blame. 

In the history of the City of Richmond, one of the 
most prominent of its residents in civil life during the 
Revolutionary War, and for many years after it had be- 
come reminiscent, was John Harvie, a native of the Par- 
ish of Gargunnock, Stirlingshire. He was born about 
1740, and is believed to have emigrated to the Colonies 
shortly after reaching his majority. He settled in Albe- 
marle County, Va., and began the practice of law. In 
this he was eminently successful, and his ability was so 
generally acknowledged that in 1774 he was commis- 
sioned by the General Assembly to make a treaty with 
the Indians, a task that was always reckoned a delicate 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 309 

one, requiring unlimited diplomacy, cool judgment, and 
the utmost firnuiess. He also threw himself devotedly 
into the cause of the Colonies against the motherland, 
and in 1775 and 1776 represented Augusta County in 
the Virginia Conventions of these years. Then he was 
sent to Congress, where he served during two eventful 
years, and he afterward held several State of^ces, in- 
cluding that of Secretary of the Conmionwealth of Vir- 
ginia. His latter years were spent in Richmond, and he 
took an active part in every movement designed to add 
to the importance and beauty of that city. Indeed, it 
was while superintending the erection of a handsome 
new building which he intended to be an ornamental 
landmark that he met with the accident which, in 1807, 
caused his death. 

Another Indian-trcaty-making Scot was David Brodie 
Mitchell, a native of Paisley, who crossed the Atlantic in 
1783. in his seventeenth year, to take possession of some 
property in Georgia which had been bequeathed to him 
by his uncle, David Brodie. He took up his headquar- 
ters in Savannah, and the work necessary to enable him 
to acquire his property led to his devoting himself to the 
study of law, and in due time he was admitted to the 
bar, having assumed citizenship in the young Republic. 
His studies were so well directed to acquiring the mas- 
tery of his profession that he soon enjoyed a widespread 
reputation as a lawyer, and, in 1795, was chosen to be 
Solicitor General of Georgia. A year later he was elect- 
ed to the State Legislature, and he was afterward elected 
several times Governor of the Commonwealth, and each 
term justified the public confidence by the exectitive 
qualities he displayed. In his dealings with the Indians 
he was ever just and humane. In any treaty negotia- 
tions he tried to be honorable in his claims and conces- 
sions, and his treatment of these people won for him 
their regard. Gov. Mitchell also took a deep interest in 
educational matters, and did much to extend their prog- 
ress in the State he had adopted, and which he loved and 
served so well. 

A curious instance, for America, of a man eminently 



310 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

fitted for public life, yet utterly regardless of its honors 
— a man with ability to have reached and retained a high 
position in the service of the country, yet who preferred 
the pleasures of home life to the allurements of office — is 
afforded by a consideration of the career of John Greig 
of Canandaigua. Born at Moffat, Dumfries, in 1779, 
and educated at Edinburgh University, he settled in 
America in 1800, and applied himself to the practice of 
law. He in time accjuired a competency, and, though 
often urged to run for Congress, he steadily refused, ex- 
cepting once. He had hosts of admirers, and the grace- 
ful hospitalities which were so marked a feature of his 
home life made him even better understood and more 
endeared to his associates and friends than though he 
had met their wishes and embarked on the stormy and 
uncertain, sometimes dirty, sea of politics. Among oth- 
ers of his guests was the illustrious Lafayette, the " pa- 
triot of two hemispheres," as he has been called, who 
was entertained by Greig on his triumphal return visit 
to the States in 1824. In 1825 Greig accepted the office 
of Regent of the State University, hoping thereby to do 
some service to the cause of education, and he attended 
to the duties of the office with all the zeal they gave op- 
portunity for. He was induced to stand as a representa- 
tive of his district for Congress, and was elected in 1841, 
but he served only one term, having no taste either for 
life in Washington or the duties and reciuirements of a 
Congressman. So he gladly retired when the term for 
which he was elected had expired, and returned to his 
home and his law practice. In 1845 ^^e was made Chan- 
cellor of the State University, and that position, of which 
he was very proud, he retained until his death, at Canan- 
daigua, in 1858. 

It may have been noticed in the last few cases m^en- 
tioned, and in several others in the course of this vol- 
ume, how easily and naturally many Scots on settling in 
America, turned to the law as a profession. Another and 
conspicuous instance of this was Judge Mitchell Kmg. 
He was born at Crail, Fifeshire, in 1783. In 1805 he 
began his long connection with the City of Charleston 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 311 

by securing an appointment as an assistant teacher in 
Charleston CoUege, having been a teacher for a short 
time before leaving Scotland. While attending to his 
duties in the college and prosecuting the studies neces- 
sary to advancement in the teaching profession, he saw 
that there were more possibilities in the practice of law, 
and in 1807 he began its study. Three years later he 
was admitted to the bar, and gradually won a front rank. 
In 1819 he became a Judge of the Charleston City Court, 
and served on the bench many years. Throughout his 
career Judge King took a deep interest in what is now 
called " higher education." He founded, in 1809, the 
Philosophical Society of Charleston and lectured before 
it frequently, and he was the author of many treatises on 
scientific and agricultural subjects. An exemplary 
American citizen, Judge King seemed to grow more 
and more enthusiastic over his native land as time cast 
it deeper into the shadows of remembrance, and his na- 
tionality was always with him a matter of pride. In 1808 
he joined the Charleston wSt. Andrew's Society, and 
served it in many ways, notably as its President for sev- 
eral terms. In 1829. when that organization celebrated 
its centenary, he delivered an oration which is a model 
of its kind. Judge King continued to take an active 
part in the work of the society, and so to do something 
for puir Auld Scotland's sake, until his death, at Flat- 
wick, N. C, in 1862, when his adopted country was in 
the throes of the great civil war. 

Hugh Maxwell of New York, one of the best known 
and, in some quarters, best hated, of the public men of 
that city in his day, was equally conspicuous during his 
life for his prominence in Scottish circles. The older he 
got, the closer Scotland came to him, although in his 
case the love was purely sentimental, as he was carried 
from his native city of Paisley when very young. He 
was born there in 1787. His early schooling was in one 
of the grammar schools of New York, and he studied at 
Columbia College with the view of engaging in the prac- 
tice of law, and passed successfully. He began business 
as an attorney soon after he attained his majority, and in 



312 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

1 814 was appointed an Assistant Judge Advocate Gen- 
eral in the United States Army. In 1819 he was elected 
District Attorney of New York, and won a flattering- 
reputation in his administration of that difficult and un- 
enviable position. He so won the confidence of the pub- 
lic that he was again elected to the office, and continued 
to hold it until 1829. He was truly a terror to evil-doers, 
uniting the cleverness of a detective to the genius of a 
lawyer, and leaving no effort undone to bring the guilty 
to book. But he never, like so many modern prose- 
cuting attorneys, rejoiced in a conviction for the sake of 
conviction alone. He shielded the innocent as deter- 
minedly as he crushed the guilty, and, unlike some of 
his successors, never used his office to aid a " pull " or to 
defeat the majesty and power of the law. He took a par- 
ticularly active part in the prosecution of the so-called 
" conspiracy trials," which created a great amount of 
excitement at the time. Mr. Maxwell's work in this con- 
nection raised up for him many enemies, among them 
Halleck, the poet, who held him up to ridicule in some 
rather commonplace verses. 

Mr. Maxwell's last public ofiicc was that of Collector 
of the Port of New York, which he held between the 
years 1849 ^"^^ 1852, covering the terms of the Adminis- 
trations of Presidents Taylor and Fillmore. In the St. 
Andrew's Society, of which he became a member in 
1811, he passed through the office of manager and the 
Vice Presidential chairs to the Presidency, which he held 
in 1835 and 1836, and at the time of his death, in 1873, 
he had long been the oldest living member, having paid 
dues into its treasury for sixty-two years. 

A public man of a stamp not too common in America, 
one who united the shrewdness of a lawyer, the breadth 
of a statesman, and the humlile piety and aggressive 
zeal of a true Christian, nuist be the verdict of every one 
who, after a study of his career, passes judgment on 
y/ Walter Lowrie, for many years Secretary of the United 
States Senate. Born in Edinburgh in 1784, he settled 
with his parents in Pennsylvania in 1791. He was 
brought up on a farm owned by his father, a man of sin- 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 313 

cere piety, who, although unable to give his son a thor- 
ough general education, took care that his religious 
traniing was as full and deep reaching as though he were 
designed for the ministry. This was, in fact, the utmost 
legacy the Scottish farmer could give his son, but it was 
enough, as a foundation, to carry him safely through life 
and exalt him to high places. 

When eighteen years of age, Lowrie resolved to study 
for the ministry, but after a time he abandoned the idea 
and determined to enter the legal profession. When 
twenty-seven years of age his neighbors, with a high ap- 
preciation of his character, elected him as their repre- 
sentative in the Senate of Pennsylvania. After serving 
in that body for seven years, he 'vas chosen as one of 
the Senators from his State to the United States Senate, 
and when his term expired, in 1824, he was elected Sec- 
retary of the Senate, and held that important office for 
twelve years, when he voluntarily retired, to the regret 
of all the members of that body. 

The rest of Mr. Lowrie's life was spent in doing good, 
and the influence he exerted, even upon Congress, was 
very great. He founded the Congressional prayer meet- 
ing, and was active in the formation of the Congres- 
sional Temperance Society, and. although these institu- 
tions have now long been al^andoned, they did much 
good in their day, and some time in the future their in- 
iiuence may be revived. In 1836 Mr. Lowrie was elected 
Corresponding Secretary of the Western Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society, and in the following year was called to 
a similar position in the Board of Foreign Missions of 
the Presbyterian Church, which latter office he held for 
thirty-two years. He was particularly interested in the 
evangelization of the American Indian tribes, and spent 
much time in visiting the red men on their reservations 
and throughout the West. It is impossible to calculate 
the full value of this man's life work. Wherever he 
went, his thoughts were always directed to noble ends, 
and his blameless career as a politician stands out in 
])leasant relief in the somewhat muddy atmosphere of 
American practical politics. Several of his sons, emu- 



314 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

lating- his example, became missionaries of the Gospel 
in foreign lands, and his eldest son sncceeded him in the 
Secretaryship of the Presbyterian Foreign Mission 
Board, after preaching the Gospel in India for three 
years, and so having practical experience in that noblest 
of all the outcomes of Christian practice and teaching., 

In 1765 there arrived in Boston from Dornoch, Suth- 
erlandshire, a Scotch crofter-fisherman named Adam 
McCulloch. He settled at Arundel, afterward known as 
Kennebunkport, in Maine. He joined in with the Revo- 
lutionary movement and accepted citizenship in the 
young Republic with equanimity, and, if he did not wax 
rich, he at least became comfortable in his circumstances 
through his own exertions, although the life of a pio- 
neer in Maine in those days was one of much hardship 
and danger. His son became a ship owner, and when 
the War of 1812 broke out was one of the largest mer- 
chants of the ship-owning class in New England and in 
a fair way to becoming one of the recognized wealthy 
men of the northern seaboard. The business interests 
of ]\laine, however, suffered sadly in the war, and the 
ship owner sustained such losses that his operations had, 
temporarily, to come to a complete standstill. His son 
Hugh — 'the grandson of the Scotch crofter — who had 
been born at Kennebunk in 1808, had been entered a 
student at Bowdoin College, but his health gave way, 
and this, together with the condition of his father's finan- 
cial affairs, caused him to leave the institution long be- 
fore the usual course was completed. 

At seventeen years of age, Hugh McCulloch began to 
earn his own living by teaching school, and continued 
at that occupation until 1829, when he commenced the 
study of law. That study he completed in Boston in 
1832, and a year later he went to Fort Wayne and en- 
tered upon the practice of his chosen profession. But it 
was soon discovered that liis talents were those of a 
financier rather than a lawyer, and he entered on his real 
career, when, in 1835, he became manager of one of the 
branches of the State Bank of Indiana. A year later he 
became one of the Directors, and finally, as Pres-ident of 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 3l5 

a great banking' company, became known as one of 
the financial authorities in the West. He entered pubhc 
life in 1863, when he accepted from Secretary Chase the 
position of Controller of the Currency, and in 1865 he 
became himself Secretary of the Treasury, with a seat in 
President Lincoln's Cabinet, and he continued to hold 
the offtce under President Johnson. When his term ex- 
pired he retired from official position, until, at President 
Arthur's request, he again returned to the Cabinet as the 
head of the Treasury. h>om that time he lived mainly 
in retirement, enjoying the glorious sunset of a busy 
life, until his death, in 1895. 

Hugh McCulloch was by no means what is commonly 
regarded in the States as a politician. He had no polit- 
ical fences to keep in order, no wires to manipulate, no 
leaders to conciliate, or heelers to propitiate. Every 
public office he held came to him unsolicited, and he 
cared nothing for intrigues or for personal popularity. 
He did simply what he thought was right; he had no 
motive in any of his acts as a public man beyond serv- 
ing the best interests of the country. In the Cabinet 
councils his cool, practical, common-sense view of what- 
ever topic came up for discussion proved of incalculable 
value, and his shrewdness and sterling honesty were al- 
ways conspicuous. In the Treasury Department his 
policy was always regarded as safe, and his reputation 
as a finan(;ier was of infinite value to the country, espe- 
cially immediately after the war, when so many wildcat 
schemes were on foot. His innate Scotch practical nat- 
ure showed him clearly that there was no royal road to 
national wealth, no sidetracks from the strait path of 
national integritv. 

An equally noteworthy exponent of Scotch industry, 
honesty, and common sense was James GilfiUan, who 
from 1869 till his death, in 1895, was, with the exception 
of a short interval. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
of Minnesota. Judge Gilfillan was born at Bannock- 
burn in 1829, and was brought to this country in his 
childhood. He received his early edvtcation in New 
York City, studied law at Ballston Spa and Buffalo, and 



3l() THJi; SOOT IN AMERICA. 

in 1850 was admitted to the bar at Albany. He prac- 
ticed at lUiffalo for some seven years, and then removed 
to St. Paul, Minn., which became his home city there- 
after. When the civil war started he joined the Seventh 
Minnesota Regiment, and in 1862 was commissioned as 
Colonel of the Eleventh Minnesota. He commanded 
that ret^iment until it was mustered out of service at the 
close of hostilities, in June, 1865. He then settled down 
ag'ain to the practice of law at St. Paul. In 1869 he was 
appointed Chief Justice of Minnesota, to fill a vacancy, 
and held a seat on the bench until the next election. In 
1875 he was again appointed temporarily, but at tlie 
election that year he was elected to it by the votes of tiie 
people, and his subsequent re-elections demonstrated 
their satisfaction with his services. During his long 
term on the bench not a whisper was ever heard reflect- 
ing on his impartiality, and his thorough knowledge and 
grasp of the law, national as well as State, was conceded. 
His opinions and judgments were models in their way. 
They were couched in plain language, and terse in their 
expression and so written that they could be clearly 
understood by whoever chose to read them, a quality 
which is seldom characteristic of legal documents of any 
kind. It seems essential to the extreme sentiment of 
trades unionism which prevails in the legal profession to 
clothe everything with a disheartening and unmeaning 
mass of verbiage, as well as to multiply forms and pro- 
cedures, and, of course, costs. This brings grist to the 
legal mill, but is of no service for any other purpose in 
the world — certainly not for any purpose of right or of 
justice. Some day this extraneous mass of legal cob- 
webs will be swept away by a disgusted people, and 
then Judge Gilfillan's clear-cut decisions may be taken 
as models of what such judicial utterances ought to be — 
terse, sound, logical, and conclusive, and thoroughly un- 
derstandable by any man possessing mere common sense. 
A jurist with an even more national reputation was (or 
is, for he still lives in honorable retirement,) Arthur Mac- 
Arthur, who in 1887 retired from the bench as Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 



STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS. 3^7 

iinder the act which permits juchcial retirement after tlie 
occupant of the bench has reached the allotted span of 
Ihrccscore years and ten. Judj^e MacArthur was born 
at Glasg-ow in 1815, and settle(l in America when very 
young. In 1841 he was admitted to the bar in New- 
York, and began practice at Springfield, Mass. In 1849 
he removed to the then new city of Milwaukee, resolved 
to " grow up " with it, and two years later was elected 
its City Attorney. In 1855 he was elected Lieutenant 
Governor of Wisconsin, and acted as Governor for a 
time. His first appointment to the bench was in 1857, 
when he became Judge of the Second Judicial District 
of the State, and was re-elected in 1863. He was called 
to the Supreme Court in 1870, and in that position his 
merits as a jurist became recognized all over the conn 
try. With the exception of serving as one of the United 
States Connnissioners to the Paris Exposition of 1867, 
Judge MacArthur has held no other public ofi(ice, con- 
fining himself mainly tcj the ])ursuit of his profession, 
and, as a recreation, to the study of literary and his- 
torical subjects. As an orator he held high rank in Wis- 
consin, where his principal efforts in that line were 
made, and his services as a lecturer were for many years 
in constant demand. \n the St. Andrew's Society of 
Milwaukee he was long a leading figure, presided over it 
for several terms; and at its bancjuets on St. Andrew's 
Day, or in connection with the Pjurns anniversary cele- 
brations, his presence and speeches were for years re- 
garded as prominent features. 

Another noted figure in public life, who began his ca- 
reer as a lawyer, was James Ijurnie Beck, for many 
years United States Senator from Kentucky. He was 
born in Dumfriesshire in 1822, and settled with his 
parents in Lexington, Ky. He was elected to the lower 
house of Congress in 1867, and served until 1875, 
(through four terms,) and was then chosen one of the 
representatives of his adopted State in the National Sen- 
ate, and so continued till his death, in 1889. He was 
noted in public life as an authority on "financial and cur- 
rency matters, and was devoted in his adherence to free- 



318 



THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 



trade principles. His honesty was admitted on every 
side and his addresses on any question were hstened to 
with marked attention, for his ripe judgment and wide 
rano-e of information made his utterances well deservmg 
of careful consideration. He had a contempt for such 
leo-islative pranks as filibustering, or talkmg agamst 
time and, although pronounced in his own opinions and 
zealous in every cause he adopted, he never stooped to 
tactics that were unworthy of his high legislative posi- 
tion or derogatorv to the assembly of which he was a 
member Scotsm'en in the lower house of Congress 
have been plentiful enough all through its history, and 
in the Fiftv-first Congress, for instance, there were no 
fewer than^five Congressmen— D. B. Henderson of Du- 
buque, Iowa, a native of Old Deer, Aberdeenshire; Da- 
vid Kerr of Grundy Centre, Iowa, a native of Dairy, 
Avrshire- J. M. Farquhar of Buffalo, N. Y., a native of 
Ayr- W.'g. Laidlaw of ElHcottville, N. Y., a native of 
Tedburo-h and John L. Macdonald of Shakopee, Minn. 
This considering that Scotsmen do not take profession- 
ally to politics, like their Irish cousins, seems to us a 
pretty fair showing. 




CHAPTER XI. 

AMONG THE WOMEN 

IN the course of the present work we nave several 
times mentioned the name of women who have, for some 
laudable reason or other, acquired publicity or deserved 
remembrance. But even with the mention of these, scant 
justice has been done to the claims of " the lassies " to a 
share in all that has made the Scottish name honorable in 
America. It may not therefore be inappropriate to make 
the ladies the text for one chapter in this book, and in 
the few names we will mention we are sure it will be seen 
that the fair sex has not been behind the other in good 
deeds and kindly ways. It is, of course, difficult to get 
information regarding- women's work, for most of them 
prefer to do what good they can without attracting pub- 
licity, and in the quiet of the domestic circle many mat- 
ters have been suggested and planned and projected 
which have done grand work in the world. The Scotch- 
woman is naturally a housewife, bending her energies to 
the care of the home in which she is recognized as queen, 
and planning and contriving day out and day in for the 
comfort of those who look to her for all the pleasures 
which are associated with domestic life. If she be blessed 
with children her whole heart goes out to them, and in 
the development of tlieir minds, their physical and mental 
progress, as well as their material welfare, she devotes 
herself with a degree of self-abnegation which is one of 
the highest and grandest tributes to the real majesty of 
her sex. But for having been left a widow, with a young 
family totally unprovided for, it is questionable if Mrs. 
Grant of Laggan would ever have aspired to the honors 
of authorship or emerged from the happy obscurity of 
319 



320 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

her own fireside. That wonderful and irrepressible pro- 
duction of nature and art generally called " a woman with 
a mission " has her representatives in and out of Scotland, 
but as a general rule Scotswomen who have become fa- 
mous have become so by force of circumstances bring- 
ing into action their innate sentiments of patriotism, 
charity, and love. Outside of the people of the stage and 
concert platform, and, of course, outside of the woman 
with the aforesaid mission whose vanity is the cause of 
all her silliness, we never yet heard of a Scotswoman who 
started out in life or cut out a career for herself with the 
idea of becoming famous or of even acquiring undue pub- 
licity. The fame which has come to so many of them has 
been the result of work well done, of service to God and 
humanity faithfully rendered, and of simple, trustfvd de- 
votion to duty in whatever sphere and circumstances 
they happened to be placed. 

From a historical standpoint, the most famous of all 
the women of Scotland who have had a home in America 
was Flora Macdonald, the noblest of all the heroines 
whose name comes down to us with that of Bonnie 
Prince Charlie. She was a simple, honest Highland girl, 
with wonderful strength of mind, fertility of resource. 
rigid devotion to whatever she deemed to be right; a 
brave heart, with all a woman's modesty and grace. 
Judging her by the portraits which have come down to 
us, she was by no means a beauty; lier features were in- 
teresting rather than prepossessing, but she had a won- 
derful pair of eyes that lighted up her countenance, and 
the vivacity of her conversation, the charm of her smile, 
and the sprightliness of her slim figure more than com- 
pensated for mere beauty of features. She played a diffi- 
cult part, under peculiar circumstances, and in company 
with a man whose love for the fair sex often overcame 
his sense of duty and interfered even with the progress 
of his life ambition, yet against her personal repute no 
whisper has yet been raised, and she emerged from the 
ordeal of her life as simple and honest a Highland lass 
as she was before she ever risked her liberty and reputa- 
tion to save the head of the young Chevalier. 



AMONG THE WOMEN. 321 

Flora Macdonald, the daug-hter of Macdonald of Mil- 
ton, in South Uist, was born there in 1722. Her father, 
who was what was known as a tacksman — a farmer of 
means apart from the income of the land he leased — 
died when Flora was a child, and her mother some years 
afterward married Macdonald of Armadale, in the Isle of 
Skye, who, during the rebellion, was on the side of the 
Government and commanded one of the militia com- 
panies raised for King George's service by Sir Alexander 
Macdonald. At the same time it must be said that, though 
arrayed against Prince Charlie, Flora's stepfather not 
only wished no harm to befall the Prince, but once at 
least aided very materially in his escape. Flora was in 
her twenty-fourth year when she entered on her romantic 
task and the details of her wanderings with the " King- 
o' the Highland Hearts " are too well known to need re- 
capitulation here. The whole episode lasted only a few 
weeks, but during' that time Flora's services won for her 
a niche among- the heroines of Scotland and a place in 
the hearts of the Highlanders only second to that of the 
Wanderer, for the disclosure of whose identity a fortune 
was offered without effect. 

After the Prince had escaped, Flora was arrested and 
carried to London a prisoner, but her treatment was of 
the most lenient description. After receiving attentions 
that might have turned the head of any young woman 
less endowed with strong common sense than herself, 
after being, in fact, one of the pets of a London season, 
she was permitted to reside under a sort of parole in the 
house of a private family in the metropolis until after the 
passing of the act of indemnity in July, 1746, when she 
was formally set at liberty and returned to her beloved 
Highlands. In 1750 she married Alexander Macdonald. 
younger, of Kingsburgh, a family that had much to do 
with the escape of Prince Charles. 

In 1773 Macdonald, like many other Highlanders, 
hearing- of the ease with which large tracts of land were 
acquired by settlement in the New World, determined to 
emigrate, and a year later found him and his devoted 
wife and family settled at Fayetteville, North Carolina. 



322 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Around that place at that time there were htindreds of 
Highlanders, many of whom had settled in America after 
Culloden, and it is said that Gaelic was very generally 
spoken in six counties, with Fayetteville as a centre. We 
can imagine with what enthusiasm the Highland chief 
and his heroic wife were received on their arrival. They 
afterward resided at Cameron Hill, not far from Fayette- 
ville, and Macdonald was preparing to settle down to his 
new way of life when the grumblings which presaged the 
Revolution drove an element of uncertainty into Colonial 
life. When hostilities opened, Macdonald drew his sword 
as loyally to support the Government of King George 
as ever Highland sword was drawn for the Stuarts, and 
accepted a commission in a detachment raised among 
the Highlanders of North Carolina in 1775 to form part 
of the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment. This com- 
mand was made up of veterans, mainly in Canada, and 
its headquarters were there. Drawn from various settle- 
ments, the men had great difficulty in getting to their 
rallying place on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and the 
detachment to which Macdonald belonged, besides the 
fatigue of the weary miles that separated Canada from 
Carolina, had to face armed resistance to their progress, 
and finally were forced to break up into small parties, 
and reached their destination by various routes. Mac- 
donald saw much active service in Canada, was in Quebec 
when it was defended against Arnold and when the 
American leader Montgomery fell, and took part in vari- 
ous minor enterprises. 

In 1783, when hostilities were over, Macdonald, who 
had attained the rank of Captain and could have obtained 
an extensive grant of land in Nova Scotia, preferred to 
return to his native land on half pay. On the journey 
across to Scotland the vessel on which the Macdonalds 
were was attacked by a French privateer, and in the en- 
counter Flora's natural courage asserted itself. She re- 
fused to seek safety below, and remained on deck, ani- 
mating the seamen and rushing from place to place where 
a word might do good or a little assistance help matters. 
In the course of the fray her arm was broken, but she 



AMONG THE WOMEN. 323 

had the consciousness of having- aided in winning a vic- 
tory. After many other adventures the party reached 
Skye in safety and never afterward left it. Flora died in 
1790 and was laid to rest in the burial ground of the 
Kingsburgh family, at Kilmuir, and in 1796 her husband 
was laid beside her. They had a family, says Dr. Car- 
ruthers, of five sons and two daughters. " The sons all 
became ofificers in the army and the daughters officers' 
wives." None of the family became conspicuous except- 
ing Lieut. Col. John Macdonald. He was born in Skye 
in 1759 and entered the service of the East India Com- 
pany, attaining the rank of Captain of Engineers. His 
scientific attainments were very great, and he was a fre- 
quent contributor to the transactions of learned societies, 
while on military matters he was an advanced critic, and 
the many works on that science which he published dur- 
ing his career were judged to be of the highest practical 
value by those qualified to estimate. In 1800 he was ap- 
pointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Clan y\lpine regiment, 
a command of Highlanders raised by Col. yMexander 
Macgregor Murray and enrolled at Stirling in 1797 for 
service in any part of Europe. Col. Macdonald served 
with this regiment in several parts of Ireland, and con- 
tinued its active head until it was disbanded at Stirling, 
in 1802. In his later years he paid great attention to the 
science of telegraphy in its relation to the military and 
naval services especially, and published in 1816 a Tele- 
graphic Dictionary of some 150,000 words, phrases, and 
sentences, which was regarded as a model of ingenuity 
and usefulness. He died at Exeter, full of years and 
honors, in 1831. 

In the whole gallery of notable and noble women of 
the world no figure stands out in more beautiful relief 
tlian that of Isabella Graham of New- York as an ex- 
ample of constant endeavor in doing- her Master's work, 
in the accomplishment of much practical good, and for 
her own sweet, blameless life. She knew what it was to 
suffer, she had to face the world as a breadwinner for her 
family, she felt what it was to be poor, yet she never lost 
her faith and never was so poor that she had not some- 



324 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

thing- to give to those whose necessities were even greater 
than her own. Much of what she accomphshed still re- 
mains actively at work in the city v.hich was so long her 
home and with which her memory is most identified, and, 
altliongh her name is now almost forgotten by the pass- 
ing throng, the influence she exerted upon the commu- 
nity is year after year bringing forth fruit. 

Mrs. Graham was the daughter of John Marshall, a 
farmer in Lanarkshire. She was born at Heads, in the 
Parish, of (jlassford, in 1740, and soon afterward her 
parents removed to a farm at Elderslie, near Paisley, 
v»?herc she spent her early )ears and received her educa- 
tion. Dr. Witherspoon, afterward President of Prince- 
ton Colleg-e, was at that time a minister in Paisley, and 
under his teaching the maiden so grew in religious 
knowledge and conviction that she was admitted to the 
communion table in her seventeenth year, an early age 
in Scotland at that time. As Scotchwomen often say, her 
troubles began when she was married. In 1765 she was 
wedded to Dr. John Graham, a surgeon in Paisley. He 
was soon afterward a]jpointed Surgeon in the Sixtieth 
Regiment, and two years later the young wife accom- 
panied him to his post of duty at Quebec. Mrs. Graham 
was not altogether displeased with Quebec, but her 
heart yearned for " hame." She did not in particular like 
the idea of attending a Presbyterian service in a Roman 
Catholic church. The images, altars, pictures, etc., 
seemed out of place in a house of worship, but as she 
grew to take no notice of them she hoped that " the 
Almighty, who knows the heart, would not be offended 
at our being- there." From Quebec the regiment went to 
Montreal, thence to Niagara, and in 1774 to the Island 
of Antigua. There Dr. (jraham died of fever, and his 
widow, with three little daughters and a baby son, was 
left almost penniless. 

She managed to return [o Scotland, and, finding her 
father a widower and poor, she supported herself and 
little ones by establishing a small school in Paisley. This 
was so successful that she was soon able to remove to 
Edinburgh, where she opened a bearding school, and 



AMONG THE WOMEN. 325 

prospered cxcccding-ly. As her means grew she took an 
active part in charilal^le work, to which she scrupiUously 
devoted a tenth part of all her earnings. She organized a 
Penny Bank to encourage the very poor to save, and out 
of that institution grew the Society for the Relief of the 
Destitute Sick, which is still actively carrying on its 
blessed work in Auld Reekie. We need not mention 
Mrs. Graham's career in her native land further than to 
say that she earned a living for herself and little ones as 
a teacher, did nnich good among the poor, and raised up 
for her household many friends. 

Among these were Mrs. Scott, (mother of Scotland's 
great novelist and poet,) and the sainted Lady Glenorchy, 
whose story is one of the many refreshing bits of biog- 
raphy of which the lives of Scottish religious women 
have been so productive. Lady Glenorchy had the warm- 
est admiration for Mrs. (jraham, and entered into her 
charitable and religious schemes with much zeal. She 
took her daughter, Joanna, to her home for a time, and 
then sent her to Rotterdam to complete her studies. Mrs. 
Graham attended this Christian lady during the illness 
which ended in her death, and was by her will the recip- 
ient of a bequest of £200. 

In 1789, at the request of Dr. Witherspoon and other 
friends in New- York, Mrs. (jrahani, with her bairns, 
settled in New-York. Soon after she landed she opened 
a school, and within a month had fifty pupils. Until 1798, 
when she retired, she ranked among the most successful 
teachers in the American conmiercial metropolis. But, 
deeply interested as she was in the cause of education, 
she delighted more than all things else in " going about 
doing good." She wrote her own religious experiences 
and thoughts and had them printed in tract form from 
time to time, and these she distributed with her own 
hands in the houses of the very poor, hoping that her 
practical sympathy for them in their sorrows and suffer- 
ings would cause tliem to take to their hearts the higher 
message she brought. A tenth of her income, as in Edin- 
burgh, was still regularly distributed in relieving the dis- 
tressed, and as her goodness and gentleness and patient 



326 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

tenderness became understood and appreciated, this 
brave, God-fearing' Scotchwoman entered harmlessly, 
and was even welcomed into places — they could hardly 
be called homes — where many men would not have dared 
to penetrate. Her pastor, the Rev. J. M. Mason, was 
amazed at her courage, and reproached her for her te- 
merity, but she never faltered in carrying on her self- 
appointed work among the poor. Remembering her own 
forlorn and helpless condition when her husband died, 
she was especially interested in cases where the bread- 
winner of a family had been removed, and by her kindly 
sympathy softened the blow of many a bitter bereave- 
ment. 

In her school work Mrs. Graham was very effectively 
aided by her children, but her main reliance seems to 
have been on her daughter Joanna. The school, it may 
be said, from the first was a financial success, the Gra- 
hams were soon in fairly comfortable circumstances, and 
were welcomed into the best and most refined society in 
New York. 

As might be expected in a girl who had enjoyed the 
care of such a mother as Isabella Graham, and the friend- 
ship of a woman like Lady Glenorchy, Joanna was, from 
her earliest years, animated by a deeply religious spirit. 
When she settled in New York, in her nineteenth year, 
her sentiments were as fixed as ever. One gentleman — 
an Irishman — who was paying her attentions, said that 
when he married her he would take her where she would 
never hear the sound of a church bell. That settled his 
case. Her next wooer was a wealthy merchant, but she 
declined his proffers for some reason. Then Divie 
Bethune, at that time a young merchant on Broadway, 
near Wall Street, without a superabundance of means, 
laid siege to her heart, and in proposing, according to 
her story, " adverted to his poverty and talked much of 
living by faith." She construed this to mean that Divie 
was not in circumstances to support her, and so refused 
him. But Divie had a stanch ally in Mrs. Graham, who 
thought him one of the best men in the world, and so, 
when the young woman told her mother of the inter- 



AMONG THE WOMEN. 327 

view and its result, the good old lady simply said: " Jo- 
anna, if he has asked you in faith, he'll get you in spite of 
your teeth/' Divie did not take " no "" for an answer, and 
in July, 1795, the two were married. 

From that time Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Bethunc and 
her husband were united in every good work — a glorious 
trio whose highest aim was to do good through the spirit 
of the Saviour, and until death stepped in and, one after 
the other, carried them oflf to a higher sphere, the life 
story of the three run on the same lines. 

Mrs. Bethune's active career in well-doing commenced 
with her marriage, and here it may be said that a happier 
union than that of the Bethunes, during the twenty-nine 
years it lasted, could hardly be imagined. During part of 
that time old Mrs. Graham was a member of the house- 
hold, and the warmest affection animated every one in 
the home. Mrs. Graham and Divie Bethune were hand 
in hand in all good works, and Divie had a theory that 
women understood the practical workings of benevolence 
and Christian endeavor better than men, and so was ever 
willing to follow the lead of his wife and his mother- 
in-law. 

Divie Bethune was a native of Ross-shire, a Presbyte- 
rian, and an honest, conscientious, God-fearing man. He 
had fairly prospered in business, was not rich by any 
means, but had established a trade that promised steady 
and increasing, if not extravagant, returns. He was act- 
ive in Scotch matters, for he was an enthusiast in all 
things pertaining to his native land, and in the cause of 
religion he was noted from his arrival in New York for 
his earnest and faithful work. He appointed himself a 
missionary among the p'oor, and gave away hundreds of 
Bibles and good books while relieving the pressing ne- 
cessities of each case of actual poverty with a liberal 
hand. No wonder that the heart of Isabella Graham 
warmed to this typical Scottish merchant as soon as she 
became acquainted with him, and that it was with peculiar 
satisfaction she witnessed his marriage to her daughter 
Joanna. While Mrs. Graham lived she and her son-in- 
law were associated in many Christian enterprises, and 



328 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Divie Bethiine revered her. In her later years, especially, 
Mrs. Graham mainly made her home " at Divie's," and 
nowhere was she more warmly welcomed. We hear a 
good deal of mothers-in-law. They are credited with 
causing nmch trouble and any amount of fun, and an 
incredible number of silly jokes have been concocted at 
their expense. In this case, Mrs. Graham loved her ^on- 
in-law as a mother loves her son, and he looked up to 
her with truly filial affection. A day or two before her 
death, in 1814, she penned the following tribute to his 
worth in a letter to a friend: " According to knowledge, 
observation, and even investigation, Divie Bethune 
stands, in my mind, in temper, conduct, and conversation, 
the nearest to the Gospel standard of any man or woman 
I ever knew as intimately. Devoted to his God, to his 
Ghurch, to his family, to all to whom he may have oppor- 
tunity of doing good, duty is his governing principle." 

In 1796 Divie Bethune was one of the managers of the 
St. Andrew's Society, and had personally to attend to the 
distribution of its charity along with the other managers, 
for these officials at that time were the almoners of the 
organization. Bethune, of course, had to refuse relief 
from the funds to many worthy applicants whose cases 
did not come properly within the province of the society, 
and Mrs. Bethune at once saw the necessity for a general 
organization which would help the most pressing at least 
of such cases. Woman-like, her heart went out to the 
widows with young children, and, besides helping such 
cases as her means permitted and collecting aid for them 
among her acquaintances, she set about the formation of 
a society which would more systematically do the work. 
She found able coadjutors in her husband and in her 
mother, and in the same year the Society for the Relief 
of Poor Widows with Small Children was organized, and 
it exists to this day. 

Thus the influence for good of the St. Andrew's Society 
was shown in a direction which its members never antici- 
pated ; but it was destined to bear still further fruit. When 
the widows' society had been in operation for a few years 
it was seen that its scope was not broad enough to 



AMONG THE WOMEN. 329 

enable it to assist orplian children; so in l8o6 the Orphan 
Asylum of New York was organized, mainly by the efforts 
of Mrs. Graham and her daughter, Mrs. iJethune, and it 
is still one of the most active charities of this city. Divie 
Llethune called the meeting which led to the organiza- 
tion, and while he lived spent much of his Sundays in 
the asylum and was ever ready to help it. For half a 
century Mrs. Ijcthune was active in the work of superin- 
tending the asylum, and only retired from her labors 
when advanced age incapacitated lier. It is curious to 
think how these two societies — the one for widows and 
children and the other for orphans — really owed their 
origin to the election of Divie Bcthune as a manager of 
the St. Andrew's Society. 

In 1801 Mr. and Mrs. Bethune visited Scotland, and 
one result was the real beginning of the Sabbath school 
movement in this country. The first Sabbath school in 
America of which we have record was founded by Quak- 
ers in Philadelphia in 1791. In 1792 Mrs. Graham organ- 
ized a Sunday school for young women in New-York. 
While in vScotland Mrs. Bethune saw the importance of 
such schools, as we now understand them, for religious 
instruction, and began at once an effort to have the same 
missionary spirit at work among tlie children here that 
she saw in her motherland. Ill health, family cares, and 
the amount of work already on hand prevented her from 
making headway with her project, and the war of 1812 
put an end to it altogether apparently, but Mrs. Bethune 
never relaxed in her purposes, and even when the project 
seemed hopeless continued in correspondence with friends 
in Scotland so as to keep posted on the varying phases 
of the Sabbath scliool movement there. At length, in 
1 81 6, by the organization of the Female Sabbath School 
Union of New-York, the real foundation of the present 
system in this country was laid, and by her work in this 
connection Mrs. Bethune fairly earned her title oi 
*' Mother of Sabbath Schools in America." 

Divie Bethune died in 1824 and his widow survived 
until i860, and until the infirmities of years compelled her 
to stand aside she continued her interest in all good work. 



330 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

It is impossible in this place to enter into details re- 
garding" other spheres of Joanna Bethune's usefulness, of 
her work in Church matters, in hifant schools, in indus- 
trial schools, and in practical benevolence of all kinds. 
She was not a " woman with a mission," but a woman 
with a dozen missions, and her wiiole life of ninety years 
may justly be said to have been spent in doing her Mas- 
ter's work. Busy as she was, her home duties were never 
neglected, and few men had a happier home than Divie 
Bethune, and few children had more of a mother's care 
than did her own beloved little ones. 

It is hardly possible to imagine a life more pure, more 
holy, more devoted to doing good, more self-denying, 
more full of humble faith, than that of Isabella Graham, 
and the same may be said of her daughter Joanna. Both 
women had their share of the tnals,vexations, and sorrows 
of this life, yet they never faltered in their devoted trust 
or in their implicit faith that all things are ordered for 
the best. The life of Mrs. Bethune, like that of her 
mother, showed that sectarian differences are, after all, 
divisions in name only, and that religion and good works 
break down the barrier of the issues w'hich have arisen to 
distract Christianity from the pre-eminence of the real 
message of the Gospels. Mrs. Graham rejoiced to see 
that her lifework was certain to be carried on by her 
daughter, and the daughter in her turn saw her son 
preaching the Gospel with much acceptance and fruit. 

That son, the Rev. Dr. G. W. Bethune of Brooklyn, 
was born in New York in 1805, and after being educated 
at Dickinson College and at Princeton, became in 1828 
pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church at Rhinebeck, N. Y. 
His next charge was at Utica, and in 1843 he went to 
Philadelphia. In 1849 he was called to take charge of a 
newly organized congregation in Brooklyn, and remained 
there ten years, when he went to Italy in search of health. 
He returned after a time, resumed his pastoral labors in 
Brooklyn, and made a notable public appearance and 
eloquent oration at a meeting held in New York to advo- 
cate the maintenance of the Union on April 20, 1861. 
Shortly afterward his health again gave way and he re- 



amonOt the women. 331 

turned to Italy, where he died suddenly, in 1862. He was 
eloquent as a preacher, faithful in the administration of 
his pastoral work, and won the love of every congrega* 
tion to which he ministered. His published writings were 
many, and his prose works were noted for their chaste dic- 
tion and the clearness and crispness of their style. As a 
theologian he was not only profound, but had the happy 
art of stating even the most profound truths in language 
that a child might understand. But it is as a poet that he 
will be remembered in connection with literature, and his 
" Lays of Love and Faith " stamped him as a writer of 
rich fancy and one possessing true poetic insight and 
sentiment. In his poetry, too, we find the true patriotism 
of Isabella Graham and his father and mother repro- 
duced and perpetuated, for it was the hallowed influence 
of Divie Bethune's fireside that inspired in after years 
his son to pen that most popular, and to the Scot abroad 
most dear, of modern Scottish lyrics: 

" O! Sing to me the auld Scotch sangs, 

r the braid Scottish tongue, 
The sangs my father loved to hear. 

The sangs my mither sung 
When she sat beside my cradle, 

Or croon'd me on her knee; 
An' I wadna sleep, she sang sae sweet, 

The auld Scotch sangs to me." 

A very pronounced type of the woman with a mission, 
but so earnest in her mission that she had none of the 
peculiarities which inspire contempt or arouse amuse- 
ment for that class, was Fanny Wright, after whom, in 
the early anti-slavery days, so many abolitionist societies 
were named. She was born at Dundee in 1795, and in 
early life made a special study of Smith's " Wealth of Na- 
tions " and other works on political philosophy. She de- 
veloped into a close and original thinker on such topics, 
and her earliest publication was a defense of the doc- 
trines of Epicurus. 

From 1818 till 1821 she resided in the United States, 



332 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

mainly engaged in travel and paying particular attention 
to the social and religious communities then in existence, 
and to the slavery question in all its bearings. Then she 
returned to Europe and traveled over the Continent, 
gathering new ideas and adding to her store of know- 
ledge as she journeyed. In 1825 she determined to turn 
her accomplishments to some practical purpose, and ac- 
cordingly returned to America to wrestle with the slave 
problem. She bought some 2,500 acres of land in Ten- 
nessee as a place for the residence of emancipated 
negroes, so that, dwelling together in a compact colony, 
they might not only acquire a sense of independence by 
earning their own livelihood, but be sufficiently under 
her control that she might readily put into practice several 
theories she had formed for their advancement. The 
colony, however, turned out a failure. The time was not 
ripe then for such an attempt. Though disheartened 
greatly at the upshot of this well-meant endeavor, she 
did not abandon the cause of the slave, and by her lect- 
ures and speeches did much to foster and strengthen the 
sentiment against the accursed traffic, which was then 
becoming a live issue in public affairs in the Northern 
States. It is singular that, though retaining her Scotch 
accent, she had no difficulty in rousing her audiences, 
the very earnestness of her manner making all else be for- 
gotten while she occupied the platform. 

Becoming acquainted with Robert Dale Owen, Miss 
Wright adopted many of that dreamer's ideas and tried 
to aid him in his work at the settlement at New-Har- 
mony, Ind. She edited the " Gazette " there, and worked 
hard to make the experiment a success, but her nature 
and that of Owen were not congenial, and she abandoned 
the enterprise. Crossing the ocean again, she took up 
her residence in Paris and married a Frenchman named 
D'Arusmont, but marriage is never a happy state for a 
woman with a mission, and this union was not a fortu- 
nate one. The pair separated, and, making her home 
once more in the United States, the gifted Scotchwoman 
entered upon a busy career, writing and lecturing on 
social and religious topics, and advancing often such ex- 



AMONG THE WOMEN. 333 

treme and outre views as to subject her to persecution, 
ridicule, and sometimes opprobrium. She was a volumi- 
nous writer, although little that came from her pen now 
survives. But such books as her " Views on Society and 
Manners in America " and " Lectures on Free Inquiry " 
were much read and discussed in their day. She essayed 
poetry also, but it has passed away into the misty sea 
where nearly all literary efforts, with the exception of a 
comparatively few, sooner or later find their way, and 
even her tragedy of " Altorf," which was produced at the 
Park Theatre, in New York, in 1817, has long since been 
forgotten. She died at Cincinnati in 1852. She was a 
woman whose thoughts were constantly directed away 
from self to doing good in the world, and, while we may 
regard her energies and endeavors to have been to a 
great extent wasted, and her life to that extent a failure, 
we should not forget her efforts in behalf of the slave, 
exerted at a time when such efforts were comparatively 
few, and to believe that she in that respect at least did 
much good and aided very greatly in the progress of the 
movement which, once started, could have no other ter- 
mination than equal rights in free America for all men, 
black or white. 







CHAPTER XII. 

PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 

SCOTTISH entertainments and entertainers have from 
a very early period been remarkably popular in America. 
When the country had grown populous enough to give 
the drama a foothold, Scotch actors were very numer- 
ously represented among the followers of the Thespian 
art who ventured to cross the Atlantic and find a new 
field for their talents. While, like most pioneers, they did 
not themselves fare very well at the hands of fortune, 
there is no doubt that they started the American stage on 
a high level, so that it is to-day the equal of any stage 
in the world, not even excepting those of London and 
Paris. Scottish music, too, has invariably been popular 
here, and, although they seem unable to grasp the de- 
lightful smoothness of the grand old Doric, a privilege 
only vouchsafed (except in a few instances) to a native, 
many American amateurs sing the songs of the '' Land 
of the Kilt and Feather " with a degree of taste and with 
so thorough an appreciation as to warm the heart of even 
the most obdurate of Scottish hsteners. Of course, a 
Scotsman would any day prefer to hear his country's 
songs sung by a native, but the perfection attained in 
the singing of these by those who are not natives, and 
especially by non-natives who are of the tender sex, is 
gratifying at once to his patriotism and his musical sen- 
timents. At times, too, one who is not a native struggles 
so successfully with the vernacular that it is difificult to 
detect a false accent, and, to take an illustrious instance, 
it may be remarked that Sims Reeves when singing a 
Scotch song presented the Doric so faultlessly as to give 
the Glasgow folks a chance for ventilating a tradition that 

334' 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 335 

the greatest of English tenors used in his younger days 
to act in a booth on the Green, Glasgow's historic public 
park, and that he there learned how to sing! 

One of the first of really great Scottish singers to try his 
fortune on this side of the Atlantic was John Sinclair, a 
native of Edinburgh, where he was born in 1793. He 
made his first appearance in America in the old Park 
Theatre, New-York, in 1837, when he appeared as 
L>ancis Osbaldistone. An old Scot who was present on 
that evening has left on record a statement that he had 
never before, not even in " Auld Reekie," heard '* The 
Macgregors' Gathering " sung with more fire, or " My 
Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose " with more sweetness. 
Possibly this was because absence from home had sharp- 
ened his sympathies, and the sentiments which arise when 
a wanderer's thoughts turn back to " Auld Lang Syne " 
usurped the ordinary powers of criticism so natural in a 
Scot. However this may be, Sinclair before visiting Amer- 
ica had earned the reputation in Scotland of being the best 
living interpreter of his country's songs, and his memory 
is still kept green in the musical history of his native 
land. He captured his New York audience from the mo- 
ment he first appeared, and his engagement was in every 
way a most successful one. He repeated his success short- 
ly afterward at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadel- 
phia, as well as, later on, in Boston. At that time, by the 
way, a success in Boston was as gratifying to an artist as 
was one in Edinburgh. 

" Sinclair," once wrote John Forbes Robertson of 
London to David Kennedy, " was a frank, genial fellow, 
[" the leddies' bonnie Sinclair," he used to be called,] and 
among his Scottish songs were * Hey! the Bonnie Briest- 
knots ' and one of his own composition, ' Come, Sit Ye 
Down, My Bonny, Bonny Love.' " One of Sinclair's 
daughters married Edwin Forrest, the famous tragedian, 
and the union gave rise to one of the most notable di- 
vorce trials ever held in America. Forrest, by the way, 
claimed to have descended from Scotch ancestors, and 
asserted that Montrose was their old home. Sinclair re- 
turned to England, and died there in 1857. 



336 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

The next vocalist from Scotland to visit these shores, 
and the grandest of them all, was John Wilson, who was 
born at Edinburgh in 1800, and at ten years of age was 
sent to learn the printing business. When his appren- 
ticeship was over he became a proofreader in James Bal- 
lantyne's printing office, and is said to have been one of 
the few to whom the secret of the authorship of the Wa- 
verley Novels was made known. During this time, how- 
ever, he was studying music and training his voice to 
speak as well as sing, and, in spite of the protestations of 
his friends, he made his first appearance on the stage, at 
Edinburgh, in 1830, assuming the character of Henry 
Bertram in the opera of " Guy Mannering.'" His success 
was complete. Wilson determined, in the height of his 
powers, to make an American tour, and he landed in the 
New World in 1838, and remained for two years. He 
was beyond question one of the most accomplished vo- 
calists of his time, and, though he had made a brilliant 
reputation on the operatic stage, and had won laurels as 
a writer and as a composer, he was never happier or bet- 
ter than when singing the sweet and simple songs of his 
" ain countrie." His entertainments, such as " A Nicht 
wi' Burns," or " Bonnie Prince Charlie," proved wonder- 
fully popular wherever he gave them, not merely among 
the Scottish auditors, whose enthusiasm knew no bounds, 
but among educated Americans and lovers of music of 
all classes. That he raised Scottish song to a high de- 
gree of popularity goes without saying, and he paved the 
way for the more complete financial success, long after- 
ward, of the entertainments of the same class given by 
the late David Kennedy. 

In 1849, accompanied by his wife and daughter, Wil- 
son entered upon another American tour. While at 
Quebec, he was seized with cholera on July 7,_ and died 
two days later. His last wish was to be buried in a Scot- 
tish grave, but the circumstances of the case forbade that 
wish%eing carried into effect, and the great singer was 
laid at rest in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec, and a 
handsome memorial was erected over the spot by his ad- 
mirers. " Although far from his dearly beloved ' North 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 337 

Countrie,' " wrote Gen. James Grant Wilson of New 
York long aftenvard, " Wilson is surrounded by men of 
his own race, on whose tombstones may be seen Mac- 
kenzie and Macdougall, Campbell and Grant, Fraser and 
Forsyth, Ross, TurnbuU, and other ancient Scottish 
names, many, if not most, of them the sons and grand- 
sons of the 672 gallant fellows of Fraser's Seventy-eighth 
Highlanders, who followed Wolfe up the steep and nar- 
row escalade to the field where he met his fate." 

So far as America is concerned, Wilson's great suc- 
cessor as a singer of Scottish songs was David Kennedy. 
He was born at Perth in 1825, and died at Stratford, 
Canada, while on a professional tour, in October, 1886, 
and for some forty years he was before the public as a 
singer of Scotch songs. He sang the ballads of his na- 
tive land round the world, visiting India, Africa, Aus- 
tralia, as well as every section of the United States and 
Canada. 

While Kennedy's programmes were modeled on those 
of Wilson, and to a great extent presented the same 
songs, there was a wide difference in the style of their 
entertainments. Wilson was a faultless singer, a student 
of music, and as firm a believer in the sweetness, power, 
and melody, native to Scotch music, as is the modern 
American dilettante in the genius of Richard Wagner. 
Kennedy was by no means so grand a singer as Wilson; 
he never claimed to be so, in fact; but he had the knack 
of getting, as it were, into the heart of a song, and mak- 
ing every shade of its meaning become perfectly clear to 
his audiences. He was in many ways the best modern 
representative of the old Scotch minstrel we can imagine. 
Nobody ever excelled him in the telling of an old Scotch 
story, for he did not merely repeat such tales, he acted 
them, and filled the stage or the platform with their per- 
sonages, and there was that strong personal magnetism 
about the man wdiich is so indispensably requisite to 
public success on the concert or lecture platform. 

The wonderful success of Wilson and Kennedy in- 
duced many Scottish singers, singly or in groups, to 
'' cross the pond," and since they illustrated the fact that 



338 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

there was money In an auld Scotch song, there has rarely 
been a season when we have not had the pleasure of lis- 
tening to native talent of various degrees of ability. The 
Fraser family of Paisley won, as they deserved, more 
reputation than any of them, and the Fairbairn family 
were also successful for a time. Pliillis Glover, wife of 
Thomas Powrie, the once-famous Rob Roy, sang in 
New York for a season in 1875, and might have done 
well had not domestic trouble prevented her from taking 
advantage of her opportunities. William Gourlay, one 
of the Edinburgh family of that name, essayed a season 
in New York in 1877 with his " Mrs. MacGregor's 
Levee," but failed. Hamilton Corbett would have made 
a fortune had he been gifted with as much strength of 
will as beauty of voice, and that might, too, be said of a 
score of others whose names need not be repeated here. 
We cannot, however, forbear a line to the memory of 
Jeannie Watson, one of the sweetest female singers of 
Scottish songs we ever listened to, and who, after a life 
of misfortune, now lies at rest in the burial plot of the 
St. Andrew's Society of Toronto. She was a brilliant 
successor to such singers as Miss Reynolds and Miss 
Sutherland. The latter, who made her American bow at 
a ballad concert in New York on July 16, 1857, won high 
rank as a ballad singer, and was especially a favorite in 
Scottish circles. She described herself, or her managers 
described her, as " the Scottish Nightingale,'' and in that 
respect she was the forerunner of a host of " Scottish 
Nightingales," " Queens of Scottish Song," and so on, 
good, bad, and very indifferent. 

Turning to theatrical records, we are met at the outset 
by the difficulty of stage names concealing the nation- 
ality and identity of many whose birth and talents ought 
to have given them some mention in these pages. The 
well-known antipathy which so long prevailed in Scot- 
land against " play actors " led most of the Scotch aspi- 
rants to footlight fame to conceal their family names 
more closely than those who adopted a stage name for 
the sake of its appearance, as Melfort looks better on a 
progranune than Hodgkins. But both Scotch plays and 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 339 

Scotch players have won more than ordinary popularity 
in America. 

In the early dramatic history of the United States the 
play that appears to have been the most general favorite 
was Home's now almost forgotten tragedy of " Doug- 
las." Probably more American amateurs made their first 
bow before the public as professionals in the character of 
Norval than in any other up to the close of the first half 
of this century, and in early American playbills it con- 
stantly held a place. The best Scotch personator of the 
character here w-as Henry Erskine Johnston, who made 
his first American appearance in the National Theatre, 
New York, in 1838, in the character of Sir Pertinax in 
the still popular play of " The Man of the World." John- 
ston was a good and painstaking actor of the old school, 
and his Norval won tliunders of applause in all the prin- 
cipal cities of the country, North and South. He played 
in the States only one season, and returned to Britain, 
dying there shortly after, in 1840. 

Roderick Dhu was another Scotch character which 
was a favorite with the public, but it was only in the large 
theatres that the necessary scenic and spectacular display 
could be made to warrant the production of its play, 
" The Lady of the Lake." It was placed upon the stage, 
however, in Boston and New York, and J. H. Wallack, 
especially, made a great hit as the irate Highland chief- 
tain. Of " Rob Roys " the American theatres w^ere at 
one time full, and the Bowery boys used to be as familiar 
wdth the wrongs of the Macgregors as were the laddies 
in " Auld Reekie." None of the great Scotch Robs ever 
came here, but among its first delineators, if not the very 
first, was an actor from Edinburgh named Bennett, who 
had been a member of the company in that city, playing 
minor parts, under Murray. He made his opening bow 
as Rob in the old Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, 
in 1 83 1, and w-as fairly successful. A much more able rep- 
resentative of the great cateran, however, was Thomas 
F. Lennox, a Glasgow man, who appeared in the charac- 
ter in the Chatham Theatre, New York, in 1838, and 
made a great hit. His personal appearance exactly suited 



340 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the cnaracter. He had a powerful yet not unpleasant 
voice, and every time he started' in to denounce the Sas- 
senachs he made the gallery howl in chorus. Lennox 
was a good all-round actor, and a great favorite wherever 
he appeared. He died at Memphis, Tenn., in 1849. 

Quite a dififerent sort of a Rob was John Henry An- 
derson, the " Wizard of the North," as he called himself 
in his advertisements and showbills. He first visited this 
countrv in 1851, and besides giving exhibitions of his 
really wonderful skill as a magician produced " Rob 
Roy " at Castle Garden, this city, with himself in the title 
role. Its merit may be understood from the remark of 
one of the most competent American critics of the time, 
that " Anderson was a very good magician, but a very 
bad actor." 

In one way or another the redoubtable " Rob " has 
had his name kept pretty well before the American pub- 
lic, possibly because Sir Walter Scott's novel of that 
name has enjoyed a larger American circulation than 
that of any other of the romances of " The Author of 
Waverley." The novel has appeared in nearly all the pop- 
ular " series " of " standard works," without which no 
American publisher's catalogue seems complete, and in all 
other sorts of cheap series with which the United States 
market is flooded. Even James Grant's story of " The 
Adventures of Rob Roy " has been issued in editions of 
thousands, and in more than one instance it has been 
given as a " supplement " to a Sunday newspaper. 

But perhaps the most curious illustration of the popu- 
larity of the name was when it was used as the title to a 
comic opera in which the genuine cateran did not appear 
at all. It was written by a gentleman named Harry B. 
Smith, and from a historical point of view contained 
more sheer nonsense than possibly any other stage ar- 
rangement seriously or humorously founded on history. 
Its leading character was Rob Roy MacGregor, a High- 
land Chief, although the cateran was not a " chief " at all, 
and the cast describes him as a follower of Prince Char- 
lie, although the real Rob died in 1738, when Prince 
Charlie's ideas of Scotland were the primitive ones of 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 34X 

}-outh. Then we had the " Mayor " of Perth, who was an 
Englishman, and who seemed to have been the depos- 
itary of the ready money which the Government intended 
to spend in subduing- the forces of Prince Charlie. 
There were all sorts of odd situations in the play, one of 
which showed us Prince Charlie as a prisoner in Stirling 
Castle, from which he was liberated by the efforts of 
Flora Macdonald, and the whole affair wound up with 
the marriage, or the arrangements for the marriage, of 
that young lady — who, by the way, was dressed through- 
out in a Highland male costume — and the Prince. 

But lest some of our readers might think we are exag- 
gerating the bundle of improbabilities and absurdities 
thus presented, we reprint here the synopsis of the play 
which appeared on the official programme: 

" The story of ' Rob Roy ' is very interesting, inas- 
much as it is founded on that romantic story of Sir Wal- 
ter Scott's which deals with the escapades of Prince Ed- 
ward Stewart the Pretender and his faithful follower, 
Rob Roy Macgregor. At the opening of the first act a 
party of Highlanders make a raid upon the house of the 
Mayor of Perth and appropriate a sum of money in- 
trusted to that worthy for English troops. The Alayor 
has a fair daughter, Janet, who is secretly married to 
Rob Roy. Owing to the Mayor's desire to keep on good 
terms with both the English and the Scotch, he compels 
Janet to declare herself the wife of first an old Scotchman 
and then a young English officer. As a mere declara- 
tion constitutes a Scotch marriage, Janet finds herself the 
wife of three husbands belonging to opposing factions. 
Throughout the first act the romantic interest is main- 
tained by Prince Charlie and his sweetheart, Flora Mac- 
donald, whose adventures have historical foundation. At 
the end of the act Janet deserts the two husbands pro- 
vided by her father and escapes to the Highlands with 
Rob Roy. The scene of the second act is laid in the 
Highlands, when the Scotch are in hiding after the bat- 
tle of Culloden. Janet, as a Highland shepherd, is w^ait- 
ing for the return of Rob Roy, who is fighting at Cul- 
loden. The greater part of the act is devoted to the 



342 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

machinations of the Highlanders to prevent the capture 
of their bonnie Prince CharHe. Tlie act ends with Flora 
Macdonald giving herself up for the Prince. The third 
act, which shows the exterior of Stirling Castle by moon- 
light, with the English troops in- bivouac, sees evers'thing 
happily arranged." 

Amusing as this production was on account of its silly 
distortion of historical matter, a distortion which was not 
even required by the story, it was infinitely more respect- 
able than a rendering of " Rob Roy " which was given in 
Chicago in 1895. We did not see this production, fortu- 
nately, but the following advertisement of its glories will 
sufficiently indicate to the reader its unique character: 
" ' Rob Roy ' will be given in the great amphitheatre, 
Burlington Park, Saturday, Aug. 3, 1895, under the aus- 
pices of the Scottish Assembly. Twelve special acts will 
be presented in tableaux and pantomime. Sham battle — 
Highlanders and Zouaves vs. First Regiment, I. N. G. 
Thrilling and exciting conflict. Cannon roar, volley 
after volley fired, terrific fusillade; with great confusion 
the enemy is routed amid the applause of 10,000 specta- 
tors. The bold chieftain is free! The park will be on 
blaze during the evening with electric lights, so that the 
presentation of the soul-stirring drama will be produced 
with all the magnificent splendor possible." 

But we must return to the players themselves, and 
dwell among a few names which are more or less repre- 
sentative, although most of them are now forgotten, for 
nothing is more fleeting and perishable than a player's 
stage reputation. 

Mr. and Mrs. Marriott, who came here from Edin- 
burgh in 1794, made the old John Street Theatre be 
crowded to the doors each time they appeared in " The 
Fair Penitent," and they repeated that success in Phila- 
delphia and Boston and in whatever city they performed. 
In 1810, in the same New York theatre, a Dundee 
man named David Mackenzie made an equally great hit 
as Flint in the now long-buried play of " The Adopted 
Child." He afterward made a very successful tour 
through the country, but for some reason now unknown 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 343 

he ended his Hfe by suicide at Philadelphia toward the 
close of 1 811. 

One of the greatest favorites of the Bowery stage 
around 1826 was a F"ife man named James Roberts, who 
was born in 1798, and died at Charleston, S. C, in 1833. 
In melodrama, either as a villain or as a hero, he was 
considered to have no equal. As much, at least, might 
be said of Richard L. Graham, a Cdasgow actor, whose 
first appearance was made at the National Theatre, Phila- 
delphia, in 1840, and who continued on the American 
stage until his death, at St. Louis, in 1857. 

Another Scotch actor who was a great favorite in his 
time in New York was John Mason, a native of Edin- 
burgh, who made a hit on his first appearance in Amer- 
ica at the old Park Theatre as Rover in " Wild Oats." 
Pie afterward studied medicine, went to New Orleans, 
and built up there a large and lucrative practice. 

P. C. Cunningham, a Glasgow man, visited America 
first in 1835, ^"^1 made his first appearance that year in the 
Warren Street Theatre, Boston. He was especially noted 
for his excellence as a player of Irish characters and for 
his rendering of old men's parts. He closed his first sea- 
son in America at Mitchell's Olympic, in New York, and 
then went back to Britain, where he acted successfully 
throughout the provinces. He returned several times to 
this country, being always certain of a hearty welcome on 
account of his merits as an actor. One of his last appear- 
ances was in 1852 at the opening of the Arch Street The- 
atre, Philadelphia, when he took the part of Gibby in 
" The Wonder." 

Many in the States and Canada will remember the 
tour of Sir William Don, a native of Berwick, in 1850, 
and the artistic success he won. Losing his fortune in 
the course of the process known as " sowing his wild 
oats," he turned to the stage as a means for earning his 
livelihood, and acquired a fair degree of popularity on 
the boards. He was the descendant of an old Scotch 
family, and on the female side was the representative of 
the Earls of Glencairn. His father for some time repre- 
sented RoxburQfhshire in Parliametit and was an intimate 



344 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

friend of Sir Walter Scott. In his younger and palmy 
days Sir William was an officer in a regiment of dra- 
goons, and held the appointment of an aide de camp to 
the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1845 he found him- 
self so financially embarrassed that he had to resign 
from the army and adopt the stage as a profession. His 
course was deeply deplored, naturally, by his noble 
friends, but the public admired his independence in earn- 
ing his own living rather than settling down as a paltry 
pensioner on whatever his relatives might allow him. In 
1857 he married an actress, and together they made sev- 
eral successful tours through Britain. Sir William re- 
mained on the stage until his death, in 1862, and retained 
his popularity to the end. His widow. Lady Don, visited 
America in 1867, and was very successful in comedy and 
burlesque parts. 

Robert Campbell Maywood may be regarded as a good 
representative of the Scots (and there have been many of 
them) who have held the reins of theatrical management 
in this country. He was born at Greenock, it is said, in 
1786, and in 1819 appeared at the New York Park The- 
atre. In 1832 he became manager of the Walnut Street 
Theatre, Philadelphia, and he continued to manage the- 
atres in that city until 1840, when he took a grand fare- 
well benefit and retired from the stage. He died at Troy, 
N. Y., in 1856, from paralysis. It used to be said that 
whenever he was short of an attraction he invariably put 
" Cramond Brig " on the stage, and as invariably made a 
success of it. 

The most noted, however, of the Scotch managers in 
America was Col. John A. McCaull, who, after a life of 
varied successes and misfortunes, died at Greensboro', 
Ala., in 1894, and was buried in Baltimore, Md. He was 
born at Glasgow in 1830, and was, when a child, taken 
by his parents to Virginia. When the civil war broke 
out he joined the forces of his native State, and served 
under General Mahone in the Confederate Army. When 
it was over he w^as for a term in the Virginia Legislature. 
But it was in connection with the stage that he became 
known to fame. 



PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. 345 

As an operatic manager he introduced more stars than 
any other man in America, but his fortunes dechned in 
his closing years, and on Feb. ii, 1892, a monster benefit 
was given for him in the MetropoHtan Opera House. It 
netted $8,000. 

Among the Scottish actresses who won distinction on 
the American boards, besides those already named, the 
most famous in many respects was Mrs. Joseph Wood, 
who made her transatlantic debut in 1833 ii^ the Park 
Theatre, New York, in the operetta of " Cinderella." 
She was born at Edinburgh in 1802, and received her 
musical training under the patronage of the Duchess of 
Buccleuch. Under her maiden name, Susannah Paton, 
she made her first bow to the public at concerts in her 
native city, and quickly became popular, her sweet voice 
and winsome appearance securing for her hosts of ad- 
mirers. In her case, critics and public were unanimous in 
their praise. In 1820 she esayed the highest rank of her 
profession by appearing at the Haymarket, London, as 
Susannah in " The Marriage of Figaro." Her success in 
the British metropolis was also complete, and for three 
or four years her life was full of happiness. She was 
courted by Lord William Pitt Lennox, a younger son of 
the Duke of Richmond, and was married to him in 1824. 
Lord William, soon after their marriage, began treating 
her cruelly, and after a while she found it necessary to 
separate from him. Their domestic troubles created a 
great sensation at the time, but amidst all the talk the 
young actress retained the sympathy of the public, and 
every one was glad when she obtained a decree of di- 
vorce from the titled brute, and resumed her place on the 
stage. In 1828 she married Joseph Wood, a popular 
actor and operatic singer, and both maintained for many 
years a front rank on the British stage. Mrs. Wood's 
American experiences were of the most pleasing descrip- 
tion, and she was magnificently received wherever she 
appeared, which was in all the large cities of the conti- 
nent. She died at Wakefield, England, in 1864. 

Few lives have been more full of sunshine and shadow 
than that of Agnes Robertson, wife of Dion Boucicault, 



346 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

the actor and playwright. Born at Edinburgh in 1833, 
she became in early life famous as an actress in Scotland, 
and was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in 
the country. Her marriage to Boucicault, in 1853, 
brought her more prominently than ever before the pub- 
lic, and the same year she made her American debut at 
Montreal. In North America she was a prime favorite 
wherever she appeared, and, whether in Scotch or Irish 
drama or in society plays, she proved herself to be a fin- 
ished and accomplished actress. The story of her later 
domestic troubles and her retirement from the stage are 
painfully familiar to people interested in theatrical mat- 
ters, but amidst all the recriminations and lawsuits, and 
variety of stories which were circulated at the time, she 
never lost the respect of the public. 

Among musicians and composers the Scot in America 
has also made his mark, and as a producer and inter- 
preter of high-class music his efforts have made him con- 
spicuous. His quality as a producer is fairly shown in 
the career of William Richardson Dempster. This ge- 
nius of song was born at Keith in 1809, and was appren- 
ticed to a ciuillmaker in Aberdeen. He was from his 
boyhood devoted to music, and applied all of his spare 
time to its study. In early life he crossed the Atlantic 
and was naturalized as a citizen of the United States, de- 
voting himself to teaching music and to public singing, 
for his voice and ear were equally gifted. He gradually 
became known as a composer, but his efforts in that di- 
rection were not generally recognized until he published 
his setting for Tennyson's " May Queen," which at once 
became very popular wherever Tennyson's poem was 
known. Subsequently he composed music for many of 
the songs scattered through the works of the great Poet 
Laureate, and his latter years were spent pleasantly and 
at equal intervals on both sides of the Atlantic. In pri- 
vate life Mr. Dempster was much respected as a rigid 
moralist, a good man in all that men hold honorable, and 
a conscientious citizen, and his death, at London, in 
1 87 1, was regretted by hosts of friends in the United 
States, as well as in the motherland. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



MEN OF LETTERS. 



IN the galler_v of Scottish- American men of letters no 
name stands higher, no personahty was more impressive, 
no Hfe was more useful, than that of James McCosh, the 
gifted President of Princeton College, N. J. He settled 
in America in the fullness of his powers, and from the 
day of his arrival gave himself up wholly to it. He not 
only strove to place Princeton among the world's great 
seats of learning, but he gave to America a system of 
philosophy, based upon the old common-sense school of 
Scotland, which, if followed out and studied with the 
closeness it deserves, will give a new trend to American 
thought and scholarship, and to American metaphysical 
study an individuality of its own. His administration of 
Princeton was a model one. During his tenure of otftce 
he reorganized the whole routine at the college, extended 
its curriculum, rebuilt most of its halls, and when he laid 
down the Presidency it was second in point of equip- 
ment, number of students, standing of Faculty, and moral 
tone to no university establishment in America. Consid- 
ered simply as a man of letters. Dr. McCosh by his writ- 
ings did much to advance American scholarship, and his 
two volumes on " Realistic Philosophy "' and the one on 
" First and Fundamental Truths '' are probably the most 
important contributions yet made to higher American 
thought. " The time has come for America to declare 
her independence in philosophy " formed part of one of 
the opening sentences of the former work, and the 
foundation of such a system was the purpose of his later 
writings — the work of all his closing years. But, full of 
American fervor as he was, he never lost his devotion to 
347 



348 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his native land, and what Scot abroad ever sent back to 
the country of his birth a grander memorial of his love 
than did Dr. McCosh when he published his invaluable 
history of " Scottish Philosophy "? As he well said in its 
preface: "This work has been with me a labor of love. 
The gathering of materials for it and the writing of it, as 
carrying me into what I feel to be interesting scenes, 
have afforded me great pleasure, which is the only re- 
ward I am likely to get. I publish it as the last, and to 
me the only remaining, means of testifying my regard 
for my country — loved all the more because I am now 
far from it — and my country's philosophy, which has 
been the means of stimulating thought in so many of 
Scotland's sons." To understand Dr. McCosh's life 
Vv^ork, too, it must not be forgotten that he was a zealous 
and devoted minister of the Gospel. That fact he him- 
self not only never forgot, but he placed its duties above 
all others. In the preface to his " Gospel Sermons," pub- 
lished in 1888, he sufficiently enunciated this when he 
said: " Hitherto my published works have been chiefly 
philosophical. But, all along, while I was lecturing and 
writing on philosophy, I was also preaching. I am 
anxious that the public should know that, much a^ 1 
value philosophy, I place the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
above it." 

Dr. McCosh was born in 181 1 at Garskeoch, Ayrshire, 
and was the son of a farmer. After studying for the 
ministry at Glasgow and Edinburgh, he was licensed to 
preach in 1834, and soon after became minister of the 
Abbey Church, Arbroath. Three years later he became 
minister of Brechin, and there he labored until the Dis- 
ruption, when he formed one of the noble band who 
" came out " with Chalmers, Cunningham, Candlish, and 
Guthrie. For a time he was an itinerant preacher, going 
hither and thither throughout Angus and Mearns, gath- 
ering the people into congregations and explaining the 
position of the new Free Church. Finally he settled 
down as minister of the East Free Church, Brechin, and 
gave himself up to study. It was there he commenced 
his lifelong inquiry into philosophical matters. One of 



MEN OF LETTERS. 349 

the first fruits of that study was a volume on. " The 
Method of Divine Government, Physical and Moral," 
and its publication led to his receiving- the appointment 
of Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in Queen's Col- 
lege, Belfast. This appointment met with a good deal o^ 
opposition in Ireland. 

The new professor speedily showed, however, that he 
was an acquisition to Ireland, although his earnest ad- 
vocacy of a system of education in that country on na- 
tional principles met with the most bitter opposition of 
the Roman Catholic clergy and laity. Indeed, his views 
and those of Air. Gladstone on this question were dia- 
metrically opposed to each other, but he cordially in- 
dorsed, as might be expected, that statesman's movement 
for the disestablishment of the English Church in Ire- 
land. His studies in metaphysics were diligently prose- 
cuted in Ireland, and the outcome was several works 
which advanced his position in the world of letters and 
thought — notably his volume on " Intuitions of the 
Mind." In 1866 Dr. McCosh paid a visit to America, 
mainly for the purpose of studying the educational equip- 
ment of the country. Two years later he was ofifered the 
position of President of Princeton, and accepted it after 
considerable hesitation. From that time until the weight 
of years, in 1888, impelled him to resign the Presidency, 
his whole life was devoted to Princeton, and the devo- 
tion had magnificent results. His students loved him, 
the friends of Princeton had confidtnce in him, and he 
constantly was adding new names to the long list of the 
benefactors of the institution. But, wrapped up as he 
was in Princeton, Dr. McCosh took a keen interest in 
passing events and in the literary movements of his time. 
He had a profound contempt for the theory of evolution, 
and discussed it in print with its great apostle, Tyndall, 
and whatever looked like an approach to materialism 
found in him an inveterate foe. He had no patience with 
anything that paltered with the great truths of life, and 
if he hated an infidel he had nothing- but contempt for an 
agnostic, or even for what might be called a " trimmer."' 
Relisrion must either be whollv true or whollv false. 



350 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

There was no middle way, no room for real argument 
except on the one side or the other. But he was no be- 
liever in the theory that religion can take care of itself. 
He regarded it as the duty of all men who professed re- 
ligion to advance it and strengthen it at every point. 
Hence the interest he took in the movement for the union 
of the various branches of the Presbyterian Church — a 
union he advocated imtil his death, in 1894. 

National predilection might tempt us to regard Dr. Mc- 
Cosh's greatest work as his volume on " Scottish Philos- 
ophy," but undoubtedly the book which has had and will 
continue to have the greatest influence upon the thought 
of this country is that in which he unfolded his scheme of 
realistic philosophy — the American school, as he liked 
to call it. There can be no doubt that that work has al- 
ready exerted a very considerable influence in America, 
but we believe its influence is only in its primary stages, 
and that sooner or later the system laid down by the 
grand old man of Princeton will be fully adopted as 
America's own — modified, of course, by the inevitable 
new lights which time and circumstance will bring to 
bear upon it. But time and circumstance will not change 
the groundwork, and in Dr. McCosh's foundation we see 
a system founded on a rock — the rock of truth, for, after 
all, that is the keynote of the system he proposed. By it 
he hoped to make American philosophy healthy — differ- 
ent altogether from the vague, unsatisfactory specula- 
tion, the sickly sentimentalism, and the cowardly agnos- 
ticism of so many of the recognized European schools. 
His system was not altogether untried, for it is really, as 
we have already said, a development of the old Scotch 
common-sense school, and it squared in every point with 
natural and revealed religion. To America the Hfe of 
Dr. McCosh was a grand one, and had Scotland con- 
tributed no more than that one life to the agencies which 
are building up and developing the highest and holiest 
interests of the United States, it would have deserved 
the kindliest recognition from American scholarship. 

A very similar case is that of Dr. Daniel Wilson of 
Toronto — Sir Daniel, as he was called in the twilight of 



MEN OF LETTERS. 35J 

his life. Like Dr. McCosh, he settled in America in the 
fullness of his powers, and after he had established his 
literary reputation, and he continued at work in his 
transatlantic home until the inevitable summons called 
him to the majority. Born at Edinburgh in 1816, a 
nephew of " Christopher North,'' he early showed a 
predilection for literary work. His education was re- 
ceived mainly at the historic High School of his native 
town — the school of Drummond of Hawthornden, Rob- 
ert Ferguson, Law of Lauriston, Boswell, the biog- 
rapher; Henry Mackenzie, the " Man of Feeling"; Lord 
Brougham, and a hundred other notables — and at the 
imiversity in that city. After graduating, he spent some 
years in London, mainly engaged in literary pursuits, and 
then returned to Scotland, where he began that thorough 
study into the archaeology and anticiuities of the country 
which was destined ultimately to give him a high place 
among her historical writers. He became Secretary to 
the Royal Antiquarian Society of Scotland and contrib- 
uted many valuable papers to its " Transactions." His 
chief study at that time was the romantic city in which he 
was born and in which he resided, and the result of his 
studies — the " Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden 
Time," published in 1847 — established his reputation as 
a writer and archaeologist. His greatest contribution to 
historical literature, however, was his " Prehistoric An- 
nals of Scotland," a work which not only directed in- 
quiry on a rational basis into a subject which had pre- 
viously been treated as a romance or a series of fables, 
but continues to be a standard authority, notwithstand- 
ing the researches which have since been made into the 
subject. In 1853, through the influence of the Earl of 
Elgin, Wilson accepted an invitation to become Professor 
of English Literature and History in the University of 
Toronto, and thereafter made his home in Canada. From 
that "Queen City" he issued, in 1862, his magnificent 
volumes on " Prehistoric Man: Researches into the Ori- 
gin of Civilization in the Old World and the New," thus 
grouping his American as well as his European studies of 
a theme that was to him of the most fascinating descrip- 



352 THE SCOT TN AMERICA. 

tion. Wc have not space, however, to mention all of the 
literary work which this (lili^'-ent student performed after 
his lines were cast in Canada. If .c^athered tooether his 
contrilnitions to the Journal of ihe Canadian Institute 
and to periodicals of various descriptions would fill a 
goodly array of volumes. All his work was conscien- 
tiously done; every line he wrote bore the hall marks of 
the scholar. Dr. Wilson was a poet, too, and published 
a small volume of his verses under the title of " Spring 
Flowers" in 1875, but no one can read his prose works 
without feeling- in them even a deeper poetical sentiment 
and insio-lit than in the volume in which he uttered his 
thouj^hts in verse. Mis was a beautiful old age. Ele- 
vated to the Presidency of his college, honored by his 
sovereign with knighthood, and enjoying the respectful 
admiration of thousands of friends in both hemispheres, 
he continued in harness to the end, doing good by word, 
thought, and deed until the night came that ushered him 
into the sunlight. 

The first literature that is issued in connection with a 
new country is generally topographical and descriptive, 
and in respect to the New World the ubi(|uitous Scot is 
represented among those who wrote of the American 
Colonies while even most of the seaboard was in a state 
of nature. This advance guard of a long line of litter^ 
ateurs of all ranks had an early representative in John 
Lawson, a native of Aberdeen. He was born in that 
city about 1658, and in 1690 was appointed Surveyor 
General of North Carolina. He appears to have begun 
his work in America a year later, and to have ajiphed 
himself to its duties with all the determination and en- 
ergy so characteristic of his race. The best eviclencc of 
this extant is his volume, published at London in 1700, 
entitled " A New Voyage to Carolina, Containing the 
Exact Description and Natural History of that Country; 
Together with the Present State Thereof; and a Journal 
of a Thousand Miles Traveled Through Several Nations 
of Indians, Cnving a Particular Account of Their Cus- 
toms, Manners, &c." This work proved so ])opular, was 
recognized as so perfect an authority on its subject that 



MEN OF T.RTTRRS. 353 

It was reprinted in 1709, T714, and in 1718, and it had the 
honor of being rei)roduced, at Raleij^h, N. C, as recently 
as i860. In 171 2, in the course of one of his surveying 
trips, Lawson was made prisoner by Tuscarora Indians 
and was put to death in a manner that brouglit into op- 
eration all the fiendish cruelty for which that people were 
distinguished. 

A better-remembered name is lliat of Cieorge Chalm- 
ers, one of the most prominent literary anti(iuarians of 
Scotland. This man, whose wonderful " Caledonia " re- 
mains a storehouse for writers on Scottish historical 
matters, was born at h'ochabcrs in 1742, and bred to the 
legal profession. In 1763 he sailed for America with a 
relative who was anxious to recover a large tract of land 
in Maryland, which had been in the possession of an 
earlier member of the family. Making his headquarters 
in JSaltimore, Chalmers studied the legal practice of that 
city, and finally determined to settle there and carry on 
his profession. There he remained, until the troubles of 
the Revolution l)roke out, and when he saw that separa- 
tion from the mother country was inevitable, or that mili- 
tary rule was to be necessary to keep the country loyal, 
he determined to leave it. Settling up his affairs as best 
he could, he crossed over to London and began his ca- 
reer as a man of letters. It is singular that Chalmers's 
American experiences proved unproductive of literary 
result. He published in 1782 the first volume of " An In- 
troduction to the History of the l^evolt of the Colonies," 
but the volume was cpiickly su])pressed at his instance, 
and no more apjiearcd in print. A volume of " ( )pini()ns 
(jn Interesting Subjects of I'ublic Laws and Commercial 
i'olicy, Arising from American Independence," issued in 
1784, and a few tracts, complete his literary connection 
with the United States. Scotland, however, was possibly 
the gainer by his devotion to themes and studies peculiar 
ly her own, and his editions of her ancient poets, hii 
" Caledonia," his " Life of Mary, Queen of Scots," and 
many other works of like im])ortance give him a high 
place among the literary students of the country. 

Jn tlie case of James, Thomas Callender we have the 



354 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

first instance of a Scot whose entire literary life, almost, 
was given up to the United States, and was developed by 
the influences at work in the country. He was also one 
of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, of that style of Ameri- 
can journalism which uses declamation and denunciation 
instead of argument, which is distinguished by the bitter- 
ness it displays toward opponents, and seems never hap- 
pier than when engaged in sneering at and belittling, if 
not vilifying, whatever does not square with the writer's 
notions or interests, in Church or State, in religion, man- 
ners, or morals. Callender was born at Stirling in 1758. 
Of his early life little is known until, in 1792, he published 
at Edinburgh a pamphlet entitled " The Political Prog- 
ress of Britain." It was a time when the authorities, 
aroused by the success of the French Revolution and 
the feeling of dissatisfaction with political conditions 
which generally prevailed, were keenly bent on suppress- 
ing anything that looked like sedition, and Callender's 
work was judged to fall under that category, and was 
seized. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he 
evaded it by escaping to this country. 

Callender reached America in 1793, and settled in Phil- 
adelphia. There he published the " Political Register " 
and the " American Register," but neither appear to have 
added much to his worldly fortune. Removing to Rich- 
mond, Va., he established the " Richmond Recorder," 
which became somewhat of a power in politics. Callen- 
der was bitterly outspoken in his opposition to the Ad- 
ministrations of Washington and Adams. His beau 
ideal of a statesman for a long time was Thomas Jefifer- 
son, but toward the end he opposed that patriot's policy 
as vehemently as he did those of the early Presidents. 
A man engaged in newspaper w^ork has little time for 
anything else than to fulfill its demands, but Callender 
managed to publish several volumes — " Sketches of 
American History " being the most noteworthy — all of 
which show him to have been a writer at once forcible 
and graceful and possessed of a thorough knowledge of 
and a keen insight into the passing affairs of his time. 
His character, however, was not a lovable one. His 



MEN OF LETTERS. 355 

temper was soured — perhaps by his outlawry in early 
life — and his work in this country seems really to have 
been of little passing, and certainly of no permanent, 
value. He met his death, by drowning, in the James 
River, near Richmond, in 1813. 

A much more amiable career, and one still popularly 
recalled on both sides of the Atlantic, is that of Alexan- 
der Wilson, " the Paisley poet and American ornitholo- 
gist," as he has been described. He was born in Paisley 
in 1766, educated at the grammar school there, and in 
due time was apprenticed to a weaver — the trade of his 
father. He did not. take kindly to the loom, and after his 
apprenticeship was over he sighed for some other em- 
ployment, which would give him an opportunity to study 
nature in all her moods. He early began to dabble in 
literature, and, at all events^ to have aspirations for lit- 
erary work, and one of his many biographers. Dr. Gro- 
sart, seems to regard it as probable that in 1786 he made 
a pilgrimage to Kilmarnock to make the acquaintance of 
Robert Burns, and that he succeeded in his mission. Af- 
ter several years spent as a journeyman weaver in Pais- 
ley, Queensferry, and other places, during which time his 
muse was busy, he determined to see his country thor- 
oughly and at the same time support himself by " carry- 
ing a pack " — that is, by becoming a peddler. In this 
way he not only traveled into sections of his native land 
which otherwise he might never have seen, but his poet- 
ical qualities wonderfully developed, and such composi- 
tions as " The Loss of the Pack " are still recited in Scot- 
land. His delightful prose style also formed itself about 
this time, and the journals of his travels and his letters 
are to this day delightful reading. While journeying he 
secured subscribers for a volume of his poems, which 
ultimately appeared in 1790 and gave him a more than 
local standing as a poet. The volume is, however, very 
unequal in its contents, and shows that the author lacked 
the services of a critical adviser when preparing or se- 
lecting its contents for the press. The most popular of 
all his poems, " Watty and Meg," appeared in 1792 as a 
penny chapbook, without any author's name, and was at 



356 THK SCOT IN AMKKTCA. 

once attributed to Burns — the highest comphment which 
it was possible for the ])cople of Scotland to pay it. 

In 1793, like nearly every young man then in Paisley, 
Wilson fell under the ban of being suspected of nursing 
seditious sentiments, and, as he avowed the authorship of 
Lscvcral poems thus libeled, he was sent to jail. After 
his release he made up his mind to try his fortunes in the 
young republic over the sea, although the very idea of 
parting with Scotland cost him a severe pang, for Amer- 
ica was niucli further away from Scotland in those days 
than now. 

When Wilson landed in the New World he was ready 
to accept a job at anything that presented itself, and in 
time he was a helper in a copperplate printing establish- 
ment, a weaver, a peddler, and a schoolmaster. In the 
last-named employment he won considerable success, 
and his appointment as teacher in an institution at Kin- 
gcss, about four miles from Philadelphia, seemed to 
bring him the opportunity for putting into practice a 
determination he had formed during his wanderings over 
the country, that of making a descriptive and pictorial 
work about the birds of America. 

Wilson's fame in America rests on his " Ornithology," 
the first vohnne of which was issued in 1808. In his let- 
ters and diaries he has given us wonderfully graphic pict- 
lU'cs of his adventures in search of material for this 
work, of the hardships he had to endure, of his wander- 
ings through unknown regions and of his many hair- 
breadth escapes on land and water. As he journeyed 
he canvassed for subscribers for the work, and he has 
told us of his successes as well as his rebuffs in this con- 
nection with a species of humor that is thoroughly na- 
tional in its alternate modesty and grimness. It was a 
great work to be imdcrtaken singlehanded by a man 
whose sole capital, besides his fitness, was his enthusiasm, 
but he kept steadily to his task, overriding all sorts of 
obstacles, and in fairly rapid succession saw seven of its 
goodly volumes on his table and in the hands of his 
sulxscribers. The eighth volume announced his death, 
tind the sad event was directly brought about through 



MKN Ol'" I.IOTTIOKH. 357 

his ca.Q'crncss to perfect the work, 'fhe story is llien told: 
While he (Wilson) was sitting in the house of one of 
his ac(iuaintanccs enjoying the pleasures of conversa- 
tion, he chanced to see a bird of a rare species, for oni' of 
w hich he had long been in search. With his usual eullm- 
siuiini he ran out, followed it, swam across a river over 
wliich it had llown, hred at, killed, and obtained the 
o])ject of his eager jjursuit, but caught a cold, which 
ended in his death." The end came on Aug. 23, 1813, 
and the poet-ornithologist was buried in the little God's- 
acre surrounding the old Swedish Church, Philadel])hia, 
wh.cre the birds still sing over his grave. The sjxjt is 
marked by a flat stone a])]3ropriately inscribed, and is 
the foremost vScottish shrine in the " City of IJrotherly 
Love." Wilson's memory is still cherished in the land 
of his birtli and the land of his adoption. Not far from 
the ancient Abbey of Paisley a splendid bronze statue 
of him has been erected, showing him, not as a poet, 
but as a wanderer in an American forest in search of 
illustrations for his great work, and that work has given 
him a ])lace in American literature which is not only 
unicjue but has won for him the title pre-eminently of 
" The American Ornithologist." 

]n many respects the greatest name in Scottish-Amer- 
ican literature is that of Washington Irving, who was 
born in New York City in 1783. His father was a na- 
tive of Orkney, and traced descent back to the Irvines 
of Drum. lie settled in New York in 1763, and became 
a successful merchant, but had to leave the city during 
the i-Jevolutionary struggle, liaving adopted the Colonial 
cause. After a cou|)le of years, however, he returned, and 
(|uickly made up his losses. He was a sturdy Presb:/te- 
rian, a good citizen, and a stanch admirer of the first 
President of the country, and so named his youngest 
son in his honor. 

Washington Irving was carefully educated, although 
he never attended college, and in due time entered a 
law offtce. He was attentive to his law studies, but liter- 
ature had a greater attraction for him, and the business of 
his life was sadly interrupted — fcjrtunately for literature — 



358 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

by delicate health. This led to frequent country jour- 
neys, in the course of which he thoroughly explored tlie 
Hudson River, and in 1800 was the cause of his first 
trip across the Atlantic. After rambling over the Con- 
tinent for two years, he returned to New York, was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1806, but did not seem to get much 
practice. In fact, with the exception of a short time when 
he managed the business which his father had bequeathed 
to the family during the illness of his brother Peter, his 
life was that of a man of letters. Even the otitice of Secre- 
tary of the American Legation in London, which he filled 
from 1829 to 1832, and the post of Minister to Spain, 
which he occupied from 1842 to 1846, were really sub- 
servient to his many literary studies. His career was an 
uneventful, and, on the whole, a happy one. He never 
married, and the story of the declining years of his life 
from 1846 until he was laid at rest in Sleepy Hollow, in 
the closing days of 1859, forms one of the pleasantest 
records of the sunset of a literary life of which we have 
knowledge. His fame has steadily increased year after 
year since then; and Sunnyside, his home, is now one of 
the Meccas of lovers of American literature. 

Irving's first literary work — a series of articles contrib- 
uted, in his nineteenth year, to the " Morning Chronicle," 
a newspaper published by his brother, Peter Irving — 
showed cleverness and versatility, and as much may be 
said for his " Salmagundi " papers. They were what 
might be called apprentice-work, the work which every 
beginner in literature must struggle with before essaying 
higher flights, or adding anything to the real literary 
wealth of his country or the world. Irving's first real 
contribution to literature was his " History of New York 
by Diedrich Knickerbocker," which was published in 
1809. Taking the outlines of the early and vague history 
of the city as a foundation, he filled these outlines up with 
sketches of real men and women, and infused into every 
page such playful humor, and, here and there, such de- 
lightful satire; and, withal, such an appearance of a 
determination to present the exact truth in every line, 
that people at first did not know what to make of it. 



MEN OP LETTERS. 359 

The descendants of the old Knickerbocker famihes voted 
it a caricature and denounced it as such; others accepted 
it as a veritable history, and a few sat down to enjoy its 
perusal purely as a literary treat. It at once became 
popular, and has since become a classic, and we have 
admitted Wilhelmus Kraft, Wouter A'an Twiller and 
Peter Stuyvesant — Peter the Headstrong — to our gal- 
lery of heroes of romance. But such is the power of 
genius that Irving's " Knickerbocker," without any real 
pretensions to be a veritable history, has taken its place 
among historical records to such an extent that no one 
would now dream of investigating the early history of 
New York or waiting about it without studying more or 
less Irving's pages. We could not draw a pen picture of 
Gov. Stuyvesant, for instance, without his aid, for it is 
Irving's portrait of that one-legged hero that has been 
accepted as the true one, and, in the public esteem, what- 
ever does not conform to it cannot be correct or worthy 
of consideration. In Scotland it is Sir Walter Scott's 
" Jeannie Deans's Duke " that people think of, not the 
historical character who figures in the annals of Great 
Britain as the second Duke of Argyll. 

This work fully established Irving's fame on both sides 
of the Atlantic, and, what probably delighted him more, 
led to the writer's receiving a warm welcome at Abbots- 
ford, when afterward on a visit to Scotland. "The Sketch 
Book," with its inimitable paper on " Rip Van Winkle," 
added to the popularity of Irving; but, although " Brace- 
bridge Hall " was received kindly, it did not add much 
to the prestige of its author. In the " Life of Colum- 
bus," published in 1828, Irving fairly entered the arena 
of European literature, and that work at once became 
recognized as the standard biography of the great dis- 
coverer. Its diligent research, its clear array of facts, 
its skillful handling of details, and the beauty of its lite- 
rary style were at once recognized as the work of a 
master, and it has since remained without a rival in pop- 
ular favor. 

His last work, his " Life of George Washington," was 
undoubtedly his greatest and his best, and gives us a 



360 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

picture of the great American hero which, it is safe to 
say, will never be surpassed for truthfulness or power. 
He gives way to no theories why Washington did this or 
did not do that. He indulges in no philosophy, and 
follows his hero from the cradle to the grave with a 
fullness that leaves no doubt in the mind of the reader as 
to what kind of a man Washington really was; and this, 
it seems to us, is the very highest form of biographical 
writing. When the work was passing through the press 
Irving began to feel that the night that falls upon all men 
was quickly drawing its shadows around him, and it was 
only a few months before the clouds closed in that he had 
the happiness of seeing the completed work on his table, 
and of rejoicing in the knowledge that all united in say- 
ing it was wxll done. He died on November 28, 1859, 
and three days later was buried in Sleepy Hollow, in the 
midst of a country that received from his pen some at 
least of the halo which Scott threw over his own beloved 
Borderland. 

Had Washington Irving not written " Astoria " it is 
probable that the recognized authority, the literary 
genius of John Jacob Astor's expedition to Oregon 
would have been Alexander Ross, who from a pioneer 
hunter developed in his later years into a writer of books. 
His " Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or 
Columbia River," " Fur Traders in the Far West," and 
" Red River Settlement '' are good books of their kind, 
full of adventure and description, written in an easy, at- 
tractive — sometimes fascinating — style, and eminently 
truthful even in the slightest detail. Ross was a native 
of Nairnshire, and went to Canada in 1805, when in his 
twenty-second year. For a time lie taught school in 
Glengarry and elsewhere, and found the employment 
fruitful of usefulness to the children and the community, 
but barren of results to himself. In 1810 he joined the 
Astor expedition to Oregon, and until 1825 was a hunter 
and fur trader in the Astor Company or that of Hudson 
Bay. In 1825 he removed to the Red River Settlement, 
and became its Sherifif and a member of the Council of 
Assiniboine. He survived till his seventy-third year, in 



MEN OF LETTERS. 3g]^ 

spite of all the hardships and sufferings of his early life, 
and died at Winnipeg, beloved and honored, in 1856. 

Pleasant memories yet linger in Charleston, S. C, of 
the Rev. Dr. George Buist, who settled in that city to 
take charge of an academy or college — the words at that 
time appear to have been used synonymously — and re- 
mained there till his death, in 1808. He was born in 
Fifeshire in 1770, was educated at Edinburgh University, 
and there called to the ministry. He was one of the 
earliest Scotch students of philology, and that subject, 
ever changing and progressing, and constantly opening 
up new fields of thouglit, remained his favorite study 
throughout his long and useful life. He was one of the 
contributors to the Encyclopaedia Eritannica, abridged 
Hume's History of England for schools and ordinary 
readers ; and a volume of his sermons, published after he 
had passed away, was prefaced by a brief memoir in 
which the example of his beautiful life was fittingly 
placed before the reader. The volume is now very 
scarce. 

One of the most curious characters in all American 
literary history — and no literary history is so full of curi- 
osities — was John Wood, author of a " History of the 
Administration of John Adams," whicli James Parton, 
the American biographical writer, has characterized as a 
lot of lies. This characterization seems, unfortunately 
for Wood's memory, to have been perfectly correct. To 
sum up his literary work in the most general and gentle 
manner, we might say with truth that he was one of the 
most um-cliablc and fact-regardless writers who ever 
lived in America. Wood was born in Scotland in 1775, 
and emigrated to America in 1800. He engaged in such 
literary hack work as he could find, and never really rose 
above the stage of such composition. This was due 
more to the lack of literary opportunity, the country not 
then being far enough advanced to foster any of the 
higher arts to any great extent, than to any lack of abil- 
ity on the part of W^ood, for he seems to have really been 
a man of superior intellect. For several years he edited 
a sheet called " The Western World," in Kentuckv. In 



362 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

1817 he took up his abode in Washington, and had the 
editorial charge of the " Atlantic World." He cultivated 
the friendship of the most noted politicians of his time 
while sojourning in the national capital, but their friend- 
ship did not advance his interests in any material way, 
and he died at Richmond, Va., a poor man, in 1822. 

We gladly turn from the memory of such a personage 
as Wood to the honored name of John Gait, one of the 
most distinguished annalists of the Scotch peasantry and 
one of the most voluminous and instructive writers of 
his time. A few years ago he was named as second only 
to Scott as a delineator and illustrator of Scotch humble 
life, and, although time and the varying moods of public 
taste have removed him from that high pedestal, he yet 
holds a foremost place among the Scottish novelists who 
have written of their own people. Such works as " The 
Annals of the Parish " and " The Ayrshire Legatees "' 
still retain their popularity, and are alone sufficient to 
keep their writer's memory green in the hearts of his 
countrymen. Gait was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, in 1779, 
and had made his mark in literature before crossing the 
Atlantic in 1824. " He came to Canada," writes Mr. H. 
J. Morgan, to whose writings we have been greatly in- 
debted for information on many points, " as Commis- 
sioner of the Canada Land Company, an association in 
which he took great interest and used his best efforts to 
advance ; and it may be said that to his indefatigable en- 
ergy and ability may be in part ascribed the present 
[1862] high position the company enjoys. Indeed, we 
know of hardly any one who did so much for it as Mr. 
Gait. During his stay in Canada he took a great interest 
in the upper province [Ontario] and in colonizing and 
settling it; and the country is indebted to him for some 
of the best improvements, both on land and water, it 
possesses. He founded the town of Guelph, in the Coun- 
ty of Wellington, and the town of Gait is named after 
him. But differences having arisen between him and the 
company, he resigned in 1829 and returned to Britain 
that same year, where shortly afterward he was obliged 
to take advantage of the Insolvent Debtors' act. He re- 



MEN OF LETTERS. 3g3 

turned to his literary lalwrs with renewed zest and en- 
ergy, and during" the remainder of his life he produced a 
number of works, principally novels and miscellanies, 
some of which range high in the estimation of literary 
men and belong to what is called the ' standard ' series of 
English literature." Gait died at Greenock, in 1839. 

Two of Gait's sons went to Canada before his decease, 
in search of fortune, and of one of these, the late Sir 
A. T. Gait, the story of his public career is really a part 
of the history of the Dominion. The other son, Thomas, 
was long one of the Judges in Canada's Court of Com- 
mon Pleas. 

A pathetic story of promise, failure, and disappoint- 
ment, of a blasted life slowly dragging on to its end and 
finally going out, alone, in the very depths of poverty 
and despair, is furnished by a study of the life of Alex- 
ander Somerville, the once-famous " Whistler at the 
Plough." He was born at Springfield, in Oldhamstocks 
Parish, Haddingtonshire, in 181 1. His parents were 
poor, and when Alexander went to work as a cowherd 
at sixpence a day his father's earnings were only six 
shillings a week. The boy got considerable schooling, 
however, in parish schools, for no matter how poverty- 
stricken they may be, Scotch parents invariably strive to 
give their children some education, even at the cost of 
privation. As he grew to manhood, while earning a 
scanty income as a common laborer, Somerville took a 
deep interest in the political movements which then 
[183 1 -2] agitated Britain, and naturally his entire sym- 
pathies were with his own class. In 1832 he lost his em- 
ployment on account of the dullness of trade, and, as 
nothing seemed likely to turn up to give him a liveli- 
hood, he enlisted in the Scots Greys. That regiment was 
then arrayed, not against the enemies of Britain, but 
against the people of Britain. The men did not like the 
work. Many of them sent letters to the War Office stat- 
ing that they would not use their weapons to interfere 
with a public meeting or to hamper the people in the 
peaceful prosecution of their rights, and one of these let- 
ters was traced to Somerville. It was determined to 



364 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

make an example of some one, and he was tried by court- 
martial for a manufactured otifense, found guilty, and or- 
dered to receive one hundred lashes. The horrors of 
this punishment were graphically described long after- 
ward by his own pen. The flogging, however, had far- 
reaching results. When Somerville left the hospital 
after his stripes had healed he found that the matter had 
been a theme of newspaper discussion, and he became a 
hero in the eyes of his comrades. He gave in a letter to 
a newspaper an account of the real cause of his flogging, 
the simple fact that he had dared to give expression to 
his thoughts, and this letter, although it disgusted the 
authorities, was suffered to pass without notice simply 
because in the condition of public opinion they were 
afraid to repeat the dose they had formerly administered. 
Meanwhile a subscription was set on foot, Somerville's 
discharge was purchased, and with i30O in his pocket he 
returned to Scotland, helped his parents, started in busi- 
ness — and failed in six months. He next took service 
with the Spanish Legion in the Peninsula, serving two 
years. Returning to Britain, he helped to warn the peo- 
ple against foolish revolutionary measures, and in that 
way did more service to the working classes than though 
he had, as many desired, become one of their aggressive 
leaders. He commenced his literary career as a corre- 
spondent of the " Manchester Examiner," and published, 
among other things, an account of his adventures in 
Spain. In 1852 his famous letters, signed by " One Who 
Has Whistled at the Plough,'' appeared, and aliforded 
him an opportunity for utilizing the information he pos- 
sessed of political movements, and his views on the bet- 
terment of the working classes, as well as reminiscences 
of his travels, and comments on all topics then interesting 
Britain. These letters created a wide interest, and the 
author was more talked about than any other journalistic 
contributor for a year or two. His autobiography (issued 
in 1848) also enjoyed a wide sale. 

In 1858 he went to Canada, and for a time was editor 
of the " Canadian Illustrated News." His clear, vigor- 
ous English, the lucidity of his arguments for any meas- 



MEN OP LETTERS. 365 

lire he advocated, and his knowledge of the world were 
visible in cverj^thing- he wrote. But he never seemed to 
" catch hold " in Canada. He wrote in praise of it to 
many of the home papers, told of its resources and possi- 
bilities in glowing- language, and did, honestly, every- 
thing that lay in his power to help to build it up. Yet his 
career there was a slow but steady descent into poverty — 
poverty of the most abject description. He published 
several books in Canada, but they yielded no return, and 
his latter years were spent in neglect; often, indeed, in 
actual want. The man outlived his friends, and, linger- 
ing on the stage, had been relegated to the rear, and w'as 
unnoticed and forgotten. The last time the writer saw 
him, in the streets of Toronto, his apparel was that of a 
beggar, a collection of remnants of clothing that had 
seen better days, and his conversation was of the most 
despondent description. It is difficult to account for this 
man's fall. Faults he had, as have all men, but his abili- 
ties ought to have made his life comfortable, should have 
kept his lines in pleasant places. His career, even out- 
side of his literary labors, was a useful one, and he ought 
to be remembered, if for nothing else, as the one whose 
sufferings led to the final abolition of flogging in the 
British Army. He died at Toronto, under painful cir- 
cumstances, in 1S85. 

Returning to the United States after this sad record of 
a Canadian litterateur's career, we take up a beautiful, 
lovable Christian life, the life of one who was a man of 
letters and at the same time a hard-working and devoted 
minister of the Gospel. This w^as Robert Turnbull, who 
for twenty-four years was minister of the First Baptist 
Church at Hartford, Conn. He was born, in 1809, at 
Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, and graduated at Edinburgh 
University. He studied theology under Dr. Chalmers, 
and, becoming convinced of the truth of the doctrine of 
immersion, he became a Baptist, and, after being admit- 
ted to preach, he traveled a good deal through Scotland 
and England, occupying such pulpits as chance directed. 
In 1833 ^'^^ emigrated to America, and, after brief pastor- 
ates in Danbury, Detroit, Hartford, and Boston, he re- 



366 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

turned to Hartford and spent there the active years of 
his Hfe. For a long period Mr. Turnbuh was joint editor 
of " Tlie Christian Review." He edited an edition of Sir 
WilHam Hamilton's " Discussions in Philosophy," and 
wrote several works worthy of a better fate than the neg- 
lect which has apparently overtaken them. In 1851 he 
resigned his pastorate and served as Secretary of the 
Connecticut Baptist State Convention, filling in his time 
with literary work, and preaching in various places as oc- 
casion offered. His closing years were full of peace and 
hope, a beautiful sunset, and his death at Hartford, in 
1877, was really for him a victory. 

This is hardly the place to estimate the value of Dr. 
TurnbuU's religious writings from a purely theological 
point of view, but the statements in all his books that 
come under that class are so clearly laid down, their lan- 
guage is so precise, that even a layman is never at a loss 
m following his arguments, while their thoughts are ever 
impressive and elevated. Of his secular books, we re- 
gard his " Genius of Scotland " as the best, possibly be- 
cause national prejudice may affect our judgment, possi- 
bly because we really feel that he threw his whole heart 
into that particular work. We know no book which 
somehow answers the home-cravings of the Scot abroad 
so well as this, none that is more enthusiastic in its praise 
of the old land, without running at the same time into 
platitudes of extravagance. There is not a line in it that 
is not the result of observation or personal reminiscence, 
its sentiments are always pure and exalted, and it not 
only recalls the story of the land and describes its scenery 
and its personages — historical or noteworthy — but every 
page seems bathed in that spirit of poetry which has 
given to Scotland the title of " Land of Song." 

The State of Massachusetts has, as the historian of^its 
share in the civil war, William Secular, a native of Kil- 
barchan. Born in that once quaint village in 1814, 
Scoular settled in America in 1830, and for a time worked 
at his trade of a calico printer. From that he drifted into 
journalism, and from 1841 to 1847 was editor and pro- 
proprietor of the Lowell " Courier." Then, for some five 



MEN OF LETTERS. ggy 

years, he resided in Boston as editor and part proprietor 
of the " Daily Atlas." The years from 1853 to 1858 he 
spent m Ohio, mainly as one of the editorial staff of the 
' Cmcmnati Gazette." In 1857 he was chosen Adjutant 
General of Ohio, and he was placed in the same office in 
Massachusetts after his return to the Old Bay State 
when he settled in Boston as editor of the " Atlas and 
Bee." Four times he w^as elected to the Massachusetts 
House of Representatives, and once was returned to the 
State Senate, and these honors may fairly be regarded as 
indicative of his personal popularity and of the trust re- 
posed in him by his fellow-citizens. On leaving- the Ad- 
jutant General's office in 1866 he occupied himself mainly 
with the compilation of his volumes on the '' History of 
Massachusetts in the Civil War," which were published 
at Boston m 1868 and 1871. Soon after the completion 
of this important work, Mr. Scoular passed away— in 
1872— at West Roxbury, Mass. 

An enthusiastic, kindly Scot, whose name, we fear, will 
soon, be barely remembered, was Robert Macfariane 
who_ for seventeen years was editor of the New York 
'• Scientific American," and was the author of a treatise 
on " Propellers and Steam Navigation," which was pub- 
lished in 1 85 1 and was reprinted in 1854, and who edited 
Loves ' Treatise on the Art of Dyeing" for a Philadel- 
phia concern in 1868. Such works rarely bring a man 
much posthumous fame, and Mr. Mrcfarlane's best work 
really was done in the columns of tlie '• Scottish-Ameri- 
can Journal," to which he was for a lono- time a steady 
contributor. To its pages he contributed" a series of pa- 
per on the " Scot in America," and one on " Scotland Re- 
visited," which were read with delight wherever that 
newspaper circulated. On Scottish history, manners 
customs, and family tradition he had a wonderful store 
of information, and he freely communicated it as a com- 
mentary on anything that occurred to him in the form 
of letters and articles, week after week, for many years 
For a long time Mr. Macfariane carried on business as a 
dyer in Albany, and while in that city was a " Scot of the 
Scots," and took a very active interest in carrying on the 



368 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

work of its St. Andrew's Society. But the climate of that 
good old Dutch town with a good old Scotch name did 
not agree with his health, and his closing years were 
spent in pleasant retirement in Brooklyn, where he died 
in 1883. He was born at Rutherglen in 181 2, and always 
used the name of his birthplace as a nom de plume in his 
communications to the press. It seems a pity that a 
selection, at least, of his writings has not been published. 
Such a volume would have proved acceptable to many 
readers, and been the best monument that could be raised 
to his memory. Peace be to his ashes. He sleeps in the 
beavUiful Rural Cemetery of Albany, with many a once 
well-kenned, leal-hearted Scot lying at rest around him. 

A conspicuous illustration of how the Scot can press 
upward from the humblest walks of life is afforded us by 
a glance at the career of the Rev. Prof. James C. Moffat 
of Princeton, who died in that academic town on June 7, 
1890. His father was a shepherd at Glencree, and there 
the future teacher and author was born in 181 1. His 
first employment was as a shepherd's boy, and his educa- 
tion was scanty. At sixteen years of age he apprenticed 
himself to a printer, as much for the sake of l3eing in a 
way to get access to books as for the remuneration, al- 
though that, of course, was an important consideration. 
He so well improved his time that in a few years he had 
attained considerable mastery over Latin, Greek, He- 
brew, French, German, and other tongues. He had a 
special fondness for Oriental languages, and made a par- 
ticular study of that written and spoken in Persia. In 
1833 he emigrated to America and managed to enter 
Princeton College, where he graduated in 1835. After a 
year or two's experience as a tutor, Mr. Moffat, in 1839, 
was appointed Professor of Classics in Lafayette College. 
In 1841 he transferred his services to Miami University, 
Ohio. While in that Commonwealtli he was licensed to 
preach. In 1853 he returned to Princeton as Professor 
of Latin and History, and he held various professorships 
in the college and Theological Seminary there until he 
retired, in 1877. 

Dr. Moffat was a poet, and had all the delicate fancy. 



MEN OF LETTERS. 369 

L;race of lang'uag-c, and brilliancy and originality of 
thought which mark the possessor of the essential quali- 
ties of a son of song. His most ambitious essay, " Ai- 
wyn, a Romance of Study," is handicapped by its title 
and the fact that tlie current taste does not favor a serious 
work — a work extending through seven long cantos. 
Still, it is a really meritorious poem, a work deserving of 
study, and one that is certain to hold the attention of any 
reader with the slightest taste for poetry who fairly enters 
into its spirit. An earlier poem, " A Rhyme of the North 
Countrie," is more of a story, and some of its passages — 
notably those descriptive of arctic scenes — are ecjual to 
anything which is to be found in American poetic liter- 
ature. Some of Dr. Moffat's shorter pieces, especially 
those of a religious cast, have been very popular and 
been reprinted over and over again in various forms. 

But it is as a prose writer that Dr. Aloft'at claims at- 
tention in this place. In 1853 ^^^ published at Cincinnati 
a memoir of Dr. Chalmers, a good piece of literary work- 
manship, inasmuch as it tells its story completely and 
evinces a thorough knowledge and appreciation of the 
subject's character and of the principles which governed 
and directed his career. His best-known work is his 
" Comparative History of Religions," in two volumes. 
In this he brings to bear his profound scholarship, his 
keen logical analytical spirit, and exemplities in every 
page his desire to be just — to maintain his self-appointed 
position as a judge — without at the same time sacrificing 
one iota of his own convictions. Indeed, tlie work tends 
to show the correctness of these convictions and demon- 
strate the truth and inspiration of the faith consecrated at 
Calvary. As a mere compendium of the leading points 
in the various beliefs treated, the work holds a valuable 
place in religious literature. Its statements are every- 
where to be relied upon, and the concise and clear form 
in which they are presented make the volumes of value 
not only to the student, but to the general reader. In 
1874 Dr. Moffat published an account of a ramble 
through Scotland, a work which was read with much in- 
terest bv his countrymen in Anierica. It was another 



370 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

delightful tribute to the motherland from a Scot abroad, 
and is to a great extent written in the manner of Dr. 
TurnbulPs " Genius of Scotland." The spirit which 
prompted both books and is felt throughout their pages 
is certainly the same. 

An industrious worker in Scottish literature, and espe- 
cially in the field of Burns literature, is John D. Ross, 
LL. D., of Brooklyn. Dr. Ross was born at Edinburgh 
in 1853, and settled in Xew York in his twentieth year. 
His first volume was a collection of '" Celebrated Songs 
of Scotland," an extensive work, copiously annotated, 
and soon after appeared an interesting volume on " The 
Scottish. Poets in America," to which the present writer 
has been under considerable obligation in connection 
with these pages. A volume containing a selection of 
])oems by various authors, entitled *' Round Burns's 
Cjrave," next attracted attention on both sides of the At- 
lantic, and speedily ran through two editions. Since 1892 
Dr. Ross has published an annual volume of " Burns- 
iana," an invaluable work to lovers of Scotia's great bard, 
and he has also issued a number of other books having 
the " high priest of Scottish song " as their theme. Be- 
sides his book work, Dr. Ross is a regular contributor 
to many American newspapers. Another volume on 
Scottish poets in America will also appear soon from his 
pen, and he seems inclined to make a complete study of 
the writers who can come under that head. 

Among men of letters, newspaper writers are surely 
entitled to a place, even although their work, being main- 
ly anonymous, passes away with the fleeting hour and be- 
comes at best only a memory, like the impersonation of 
life and character on the stage. The American news- 
paper press owes a great deal to the labors of Scotsmen, 
and they are to be found in all ranks, from the case to 
the sanctum. They have had a full share of the prizes in 
the profession, too, and in the United States and Canada 
have been numerous enough and prominent enough to 
encourage the hope that in the near future some one will 
make a special study of their lives and writings and in- 
fluence. 



MEN OF LETTERS. 371 

III this work we cannot even pretend to do justice to 
the claims of this vast army, and must rest contented 
with adducing a few instances to indicate its extent and 
place in the history of the literature of the continent. 

The trouble is to know^ where to draw the line that sep- 
arates the man of letters from the newspaper man pure 
and simple. In fact, it cannot really be drawn, for the 
true newspaper man is a ubiquitous sort of fellow, and 
has the knack of bobbing" up and sailing to the front in 
all sorts of directions. 

The late James Lawson of Yonkers is a case in point. 
He might, with justice, have been given a place among" 
the poets or among the business men as in connection 
with the newspaper workers, yet his long connection 
with the press of New York would seem to warrant news- 
paperdom as being the sphere which really prompted all 
his other work and dictated the leading events in his long 
and honorable career. JNIr. Lawson was born at Glas- 
gow in 1799, and settled in New York in 1815. In 1827, 
after a thorough apprenticeship in commercial pursuits, 
he turned his thoughts toward literary work, and became 
one of the founders of the now long-defunct " Morning 
Courier " of New York. Two years later he. retired from 
this publication and joined the forces of the " Mercan- 
tile Advertiser," in which he did some of his best work. 
After several years, Mr. Lawson re-enlisted in business, 
and as an agent for marine insurance became widely 
known and implicitly trusted by the merchants of the 
city. But newspaper work continued his amusement, 
and almost till the end of his career, in 1880, he was a 
constant contributor of news, criticisms, essays, and 
poems to the press of New York. His fugitive poems 
were gathered together in 1857 in a volume intended 
mainly for private circulation, and in 1859 he printed his 
most ambitious and important work, a tragedy under the 
title of " Lidderdale; or. The Border Chief." So far as 
we know, it was never acted, and it seems to us rather a 
composition to be read than to be placed on the stage. 
This is singular, considering that Mr. Lawson made the 
theatre a special study for years. A play vvritteu in early 



372 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

life — " Giordano "• — was placed on the boards of the old 
Park Theatre in 1832, or thereabout, but proved a failure, 
mainly because the poet predominated over the play- 
wright in the composition of the work. 

The most conspicuous example of the newspaper man 
pure and simple in the history of American journalism 
was vmdoubtedly James Gordon Bennett, who was born 
at New Mill, near Keith, in 1795. Possibly the life of no 
American newspaper man has been so often and so com- 
pletely told or is more generally known among people 
who take an interest in biographical writings. He re- 
ceived his education at a Roman Catholic institution in 
Scotland, his parents being of that faith. In 1819 he 
began life in the New World at Plalifax, N. S., as a 
teacher. A few months' trial of this work proved disap- 
pointing, and, proceeding to Boston, Mr. Bennett se- 
cured employment as a proofreader, and also tried to 
establish a reputation as a poet. After a brief experience 
in Charleston as a journalistic writer he settled in New 
York, and newspaper work became the business of his 
life. He became a typical Bohemian, owning a short- 
lived sheet at one time, and at others picking up a living 
as a reporter and space writer, excepting for a brief ex- 
perience as an editorial writer. The man, by these 
changes and ups and downs, was really serving his ap- 
prenticeship, and it was only completed when, on May 
6, 1835, ^^^ issued from a cellar in Wall Street the first 
number of the " New York Herald." Most of the earlier 
issues were written mainly by himself, and he infused his 
vitality into every line. The history of that newspaper 
belongs to the history of American progress — of Ameri- 
can civilization, it may be said. It was from the first a 
medium of news, and the enterprise shown in obtaining 
intelligence of every description earlier than did any 
other sheet, the striking arrangement of the news matter, 
and the sacrifice of merely literary style to get a story 
before the reader without lo^s of time and in the most in- 
teresting manner possible soon made it the most-talked- 
about newspaper on the continent. As his means pro- 
gressed and opportunities arose, Mv. Bennett seemed to 



MEN OF LETTERS. 373 

develop in enterprise and liberality and in the keenness 
of his foresight for news. He dropped, apparently, all 
desire to be recognized as a man of letters, and his ambi- 
tion Avas to be known as the editor of the greatest and 
most talked of American newspaper, and that ambition 
he fully realized long before his death, in 1872. 

P"oremost in the ranks of Canadian journalism was 
George Brown of Toronto, editor of the " Globe," and a 
statesman who occupied a prominent place in the coun- 
cils of his party, and for years was a power in the politics 
of the Dominion. He inherited most of his journalistic 
ability from his father, Peter Brown, of Edinburgh, who 
was once engaged in business in that city as a bookseller. 
Financial reverses induced the latter to leave Scotland in 
1838, and, settling in New York with his family, he be- 
came editor of the " Albion," then and for a long time 
after the recognized organ of British thought and inter- 
ests in America. After four years of this work, the " Al- 
bion " then being the property of Dr. Bartlett, British 
Consul at New York, Mr. Brown started an opposition 
sheet, " The British Chronicle." The " Albion," how- 
ever, was too powerful and popular to be then easily 
crushed — indeed, it long after died a lingering death of 
pure inanition — Mr. Brown had not sufihcient capital to 
sink into his enterprise to insure its success, and after 
some eighteen months of existence it quietly passed 
awav. In 1843 ^^^^ family moved to Toronto, and Mr. 
Brown became editor of a weekly paper called " The 
Banner," then started under the auspices of the Free 
Church Party in Canada. He died in that city, in 1863. 

George Brown was born at Edinburgh in 1821, went 
with his father and the rest of the family to Toronto and 
became the publisher, and was regarded as proprietor of, 
the " Banner," of which Mr. Peter Brown was editor. 
That office did not aiTord him much scope for his ener- 
gies, and his opportunity came in April, 1844, when the 
first number of the " Globe " was issued as the organ of 
the Reform Party in Canadian politics. Under his direc- 
tion it became one of the leaders of ])ublic sentiment 
throughout the countr\-. Mr. Brown aimed to mfike the 



374 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

" Globe " a perfect mirror of the world's news, and he 
accomplished his aim. As a mere newspaper it soon held 
a high rank in contemporary journalism, and its wide 
circulation showed that its merits as such were fully ap- 
preciated by the public to whose wants it catered. But 
it is questionable if it could have attained the influence it 
long afterward enjoyed- — and still enjoys — had not 
George Brown personally obtained a prominent voice in 
the councils of his party. In that respect his career 
really belongs to the history of Canada, and need not be 
dwelt upon here, except to state that he was a member of 
Parliament from 1851 till 1 861, and was so much recog- 
nized as the leader of his party that he was asked, in 
1858, to form a Ministry, with himself as Premier, and 
did so, although his Ministry was a short-lived one — 
lasting only two days. Mr. Brown continued to direct 
the destinies of the " Globe " — " the Scotsman's Bible," it 
was often called — until his death in Toronto, in 1880. In 
that city a statue has since been erected to his memory. 

Another conspicuous example of the intimate union of 
journalism and politics in Canada was John Neilson, 
who was born at Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, in 
1770, and became editor, in 1797, of the " Quebec Ga- 
zette." In 1818 he was elected a member of the Quebec 
Assembly, and was at one time Speaker of that body. In 
1840 he sat in the Canadian Parliament, and exerted an 
active influence in public affairs until his death, at Que- 
bec, in 1848. A much less satisfactory, and far more 
stormy and disappointing career, was that of John Less- 
lie, a Dundee man, who died at Eglinton, Ontario, in 
1885. He settled in Canada in 1820, when only eleven 
years of age, and for over ten years prior to 1854 was 
editor and proprietor of the " Toronto Examiner," which 
ultimately was purchased by Mr. George Brown and in- 
corporated with the *' Globe." The quieter, but none the 
less useful, aspects of Canadian journalistic lives are well 
represented by such careers as those of Mr. George Pirie, 
editor of the " Guelph Herald," who was born at Aber- 
deen, in 1799, and died at Guelph, in 1870, and of Thomas 
McQueen, editor Qi the " Hurpn Signal," a native of 



MEN OF LETTERS. 375 

Ayrshire, who died at Goderich, in 1861, in his fifty- 
eig^hth year. Both these men had poetic tastes, both 
gave at least one voknne of poetry — poetry of more than 
average quahty — to add to the wealth ol Canadian liter- 
ature, and both were distinguished throughout their lives 
for their enthusiasm on every matter pertaining to the 
land of their birth. 

But this theme of Scottish-American journalism, as we 
contemplate it, seems really inexhaustible, and, gratify- 
ing as it is to our natural pride, we must content our- 
selves with closing the record with the few, but repre- 
sentative, names so far adduced. 

We would like to enlarge upon the careers of the two 
Swintons — William and John — of New York, of John 
Dougall of Montreal, of Whitelaw Reid of New York, of 
George Dawson of Albany, of Andrew McLean of 
Brooklyn, of Donald Morrison, once of Toronto and 
afterward of New York; of Dr. A. M. Stewart, editor 
and owner of the New York " Scottish American,'' and a 
galaxy of other names which are more or less prominent 
in the history of American newspapers, past and present, 
but the subject is too interesting to form the close of a 
chapter, and with this brief mention or acknowledgment 
wc must leave it. Surely, in view of what has been writ- 
ten, it will be acknowledged that Scotsmen have at least 
done their full share in shaping and building up the hter- 
ature and thought of the New Hemisphere! 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AMONG THE POETS. 

FOR a variety of reasons, it is a difficult matter to re- 
flect in a single chapter any true idea of the variety and 
value of the contributions which Scotsmen in America 
have made to the poetic wealth of the continent. We 
hold that, even though the Scottish poets domiciled in 
Am.erica continue to write in their native Doric, and 
though their utterances are redolent of Scotland, it is 
American literature that is enriched by their song. Time 
has shown that it is seldom the song uttered on the soil 
of the New World is carried back across the sea; indeed, 
the instances of that could be counted on the lingers of 
one hand, and the Scot in America who commits the sin 
of rhyme has mainly to look to the land in which he lives 
for a clientage, and for that meed of praise which he re- 
gards as his due. 

Scottish-American singers have been, in proportion to 
their numbers, as plentiful as their brothers at home, 
and, while for none can be claimed the possession of the 
very highest gifts, yet there are not a few whose songs 
have added to the pleasantness of life and the brightness 
of the world; and by the Scottish-American writers of 
the passing day there are many songs being contributed 
to the national anthology which will live for, at least, 
some years after the singers have laid down the harp and 
joined the silent realms — to us — of the great majority. 
We do not join in the cry against mediocre poets and 
poetasters and the like. Every honest efifort. no matter 
in what direction, ought to be encouraged rather than 
sneered at, and even if a man's song does no more than 
soften and mellow his own heart, or afford a glint of hap- 

17^ 



AMONG THE POETS. 377 

piness to his ain ingleside, the song has not been written 
in vain. By constantly tuning the harp a song might 
be evolved, even by chance, to which the world will lis- 
ten; but, if not, there is an exalted pleasure in the work 
for the worker. Men who even " dabble " in poetry are 
rarely found in any ranks but those who are earnestly 
striving to make the world better. Even when they are 
not, the moral of their fall is so evident that the life-story 
is of some value to the world. 

Except for the fact that he wrote one song — " Rural 
Content " — which is still a favorite in the south of Scot- 
land, Andrew Scott would doubtless have been forgotten 
long ere this. But he was a sweet singer whose whole 
life was cast in hard lines. Born in 1757, in the parish of 
Bowden, Roxburghshire, a shepherd's son, he died, in 
1839, ^'^ agricultural laborer, although his appointment 
as church ofificer, or " minister's man," in his later years 
eked out his scanty means a little and recognized the 
worthiness of his life. When he grew to manhood, Scott 
got tired of herding sheep and waiting on cattle, and en- 
hsted in the Eightieth Regiment. Before this, however, 
he had begun to rhyme, the desire thereto being inspired 
by a copy of Ramsay's " Gentle Sliepherd " he had man- 
aged to buy, and with which he beguiled many an hour 
in the fields. Soon after he enlisted he accompanied the 
regiment to the fighting Colonies in America, and while 
in camp on Staten Island, Scott's poetical abilities be- 
came generally known among his comrades, and he was 
ever ready to weave a rhyme to express their sentiments, 
or compose a song to lighten their hearts. He served in 
five campaigns, and was with the army that surrendered 
under Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1783. On retir- 
ing from " sodgerin'," Scott returned to Bowden, and 
there passed his remaining years, the monotony of life 
being varied by the publication on three occasions of a 
volume of his poems, all of which were favorably received 
and won him many friends, but yielded no alleviation of 
the hardships of his condition ; yet he never grumbled, 
and continued singing to the end of his journey. 

JMrs. AnnQ Grant of Laggan, by her " Memoirs of an 



.'378 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

American Lady," has won a place in American literature 
that undoubtedly is permanent, for her descriptions of 
American life before the Revolution are so vivid and so 
full of character that their value will remain, no matter 
how much literary fashions may change. Mrs. Grant 
was the daughter of Duncan AlcVicar, an officer in the 
British Army. Although born in Glasgow, in 1755, Mrs. 
Grant's first impressions vvcre of America, for, having 
been sent to the Colonies with his regiment, McVicar's 
family followed him across the Atlantic when Anne was 
only some three years of age. Quick in observation and 
unusually receptive in her studies, the young girl's early 
education was sufficiently attended to by her mother and 
by a Sergeant in her father's company so that she lost 
nothing by the want of ordinary school facilities, and 
during the years in her girlhood when she resided with 
the Schuyler family at Albany — of whom she afterward 
wrote so lovingly — she acquired not only the usual ac- 
complishments and graces of young women of her time, 
but became an adept in the Dutch tongue, then gener- 
ally spoken among the grandees of Albany society. Ill 
health compelled her father to return to Scotland in 1768 
with his family, even at the cost of sacrificing some land 
he had purchased, for it remained unsold, and was con- 
fiscated when the Revolution broke out. In Scotland he 
secured the position of Barrackmaster at Fort Augustus, 
and it was while residing there that Anne met her future 
husband, the Rev. James Grant, the military chaplain of 
the fort. Shortly after their marriage, in 1779, Air. Grant 
became minister of Laggan. There his wife's happiest 
years were spent. She acquired a knowledge of the Gael- 
lie tongue, was beloved by her husband's people, and her 
own large family idolized her as they grew to appreciate 
her tenderness and devotion. Her happy home, how- 
ever, was broken up by the death of lier husband, in 1801, 
and, past the meridian of life, Airs. Grant had to face 
the world and enter upon a struggle for existence, 
with eight children depending on her for support. She 
secured the lease of a small farm, and, with it as a stand- 
by, commenced her literary career in 1803 '^y publishing 



AMONG THE PORTS. 379 

a volume of her poems. This was so well received that it 
enabled her to pay off all her debts and purchase several 
necessary articles for the farm, and by this much her 
anxieties and troubles were lessened. Her *' Letters from 
the Mountains," published in 1806, soon passed through 
several editions, and gave her a place among contempo- 
rary writers that henceforth made her depend solely upon 
her pen. In 1810 she settled in Edinburgh, where her heme 
became a literary centre, and Henry Mackenzie, Walter 
Scott, and the Scottish literary lights of those days were 
among its visitors. Every work which she published 
deepened the hold she had upon the reading public, es- 
pecially in Scotland, for, as Sir Walter Scott once wrote: 
" Her writings derive their success from the Scottish 
people; they breathe a spirit at once of patriotism and of 
that candor which renders patriotism unselfish and lib- 
eral." But their great charm is that it is always an edu- 
cated, refined woman who speaks, one who knows the 
world and is full of shrewd common sense and of that 
sympathy for others which is inseparable from the high- 
est type of womanhood. In 1825 Mrs. Grant was award- 
ed a pen-sion from the Crown of £100 per annum, and 
that, with the income from her books, made her last years 
free from pecuniary care, and the sunset of her life had 
no shadows except the kindly ones of the gathering 
night. She died, in 1838, when in her eighty-fourth year, 
and her faculties remained unimpaired to the end. 

Mrs. Grant will be remembered by her prose wTitings 
rather than by her poetry, though at least one of her 
lyrics, " O Where, Tell Mg Where," has won a place in 
all the collections of Scottish song and in the popular 
anthologies. Her " Memoirs of an American Lady " has 
run through many editions here, and is still reprinted. 
Its sale in America far exceeded that it enjoyed in Scot- 
land, as might naturally be expected, but from that sale 
she failed to realize a dollar. That may be natural and 
legal, but it is not honest. 

Few men outside of the fighting- professions have had 
to undergo more changes in their lifework than did John 
Burtt. The peculiarity about his career is that it is sharp- 



380 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ly divided into two parts, the one in the Old World being 
a constant scene of trouble, ignominy, and despair, while 
in the New his path was one of quiet usefulness and dig- 
nitv. He was born at Knockmarlock, near Kilmarnock, 
Ayrshire, in 1790, and after receiving the usual country 
school education was apprenticed to a weaver in " Auld 
Killie." His few spare hours were devoted to supplying" 
the deficiencies of his scholastic training, or, rather, to 
carrying it beyond the point at which the village teacher 
was forced by circumstances to stop, and what Burtt ac- 
complished during these leisure hours in the way of study 
was really wonderful. When sixteen years of age he was 
" pressed " into the navy while on a visit to Greenock, 
and compelled to serve his sovereign at sea for five years. 
Then he managed to escape, and, n;aking his way back 
to Kilmarnock, he worked at the loom for a while, and 
then taught school there and afterward in Paisley. 

Soon after settling in Paisley, Burtt became promi- 
nent among the local Radical leaders, and his position 
among them was, in time, so marked that for his own 
personal safety, to say nothing of his welfare, he deter- 
mined to leave Scotland and try to win fortune in the 
young Republic. He arrived in America in 1817. After 
studying theology at Princeton, he was licensed to 
preach, and became minister of a Presbyterian church at 
Salem, N. J. In 1831 he edited a religious newspaper at 
Philadelphia, and two years later he moved to Cincin- 
nati, where he continued his ministry and edited a re- 
ligious paper called the " Standard." After a year or two 
spent as professor in a theological seminary at Cincin- 
nati, he took pastoral charge of a church at Blackwocxl- 
town, which he held until 1859, when he retired on ac- 
count of his advancing years. He returned to Salem, 
and resided in that village till his death, in 1866. 

Burtt published two volumes of his poetry. The first 
was issued at Kilmarnock in 1816, and the second ap- 
peared at Bridgeton, N. J., under the title of " Horae 
Poeticae: Transient Murmurs of a Solitary Lyre." 
• A name now almost forgotten, that of John Beveridge, 
for many years Professor of Languages in the College of 



AMONG THE POETS. 381 

rhiladelphia, deserves remembrance for his own abilities 
as a Latin scholar and poet as for the indirect influence 
he had upon the shaping of the career of Robert Burns. 
He was born in the south of Scotland, and taught school 
in Edinburgh and other places. Among his pupils was 
Thomas Blacklock, and Beveridge took a particular in- 
terest in directing the blind lad's thought to poetry, 
thinking that the pleasures of fancy might atone, in some 
degree, for his deprivation of sight. It was Beveridge 
who first brought out and fixed in Blacklock's mind the 
poetic impulse that made him cling to poetry as the sol- 
ace of his life, and it was this poetic impulse that carried 
Blacklock to write the letter commendatory of Burns's 
V\a-itings which turned the thoughts of tliat brilliant genius 
from Jamxaica to Edinburgh. In 1752 Beveridge emi- 
grated to New England, and, after drifting around for 
several years, settled in Philadelphia in 1757 as a teacher. 
He could hardly be called a success in this profession, 
for he was a poor disciplinarian, and his short stature, 
shabby dress, and awkward manners made his pupils feel 
anything for him but reverence. Yet he turned out some 
excellent scholars, and he was always willing to encour- 
age and applaud their efforts, although sometimes his 
good intentions in this regard were thwarted by his own 
unintentional indiscretions. Thus, in 1765, he published 
at Philadelphia a volume of his Latin poems, with Eng- 
lish translations by his pupils. In the preface he an- 
nounced: "They [the translations] are done by stu- 
dents under age, and if critics will only bear with them 
until their understandings are mature, I apprehend they 
are in a fair way of doing better." The pupils might be 
proud to see their efiforts in print, but their pride would 
certainly receive a sharp fall v^hen they read these ap- 
parently contemptuous words. 

Literary theorists who are fond of asserting that the 
poetic spirit, or, rather, the faculty of giving expression 
to it, never descends from a father to his children would 
do well to consider the history of the humble Paisley 
family oi Picken. The father, Ebenezer, was a poet of 
more than ordinary ability, and some of his Ivrics rank 



382 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

among the indispensables in every Scottish collection. 
His son, Andrew B. Picken, inherited all his father's 
genius; his muse even essayed higher flights, but its full 
soaring was unquestionably retarded by the vicissitudes 
of his life. Poverty undoubtedly chained him to the 
earth, while his fancy might have been roaming through 
the spheres. In 1822, when in his twentieth year, he 
was induced to take an interest in a silly expedition to 
Poyais, on the Mosquito Coast, and his sufiferings and ad- 
ventures in that unfortunate episode formed afterward 
the themes for a series of vivid sketches in poetry and 
prose from his pen. P>om that scene of desolation 
Picken made his way to the West Indies, and, after get- 
ting employment there for some time, saved enough 
mcnev to convey him back to Scotland, in 1828. But 
even there the fates were against him, and two years 
later he sailed for the l/nited States. His fortunes did 
not improve by the change, and he suffered dire vicissi- 
tudes, and tried his fortune in many cities. His last field 
of operations was Montreal, and there he earned a fairly 
decent livelihood as a teacher of drawing until his death, 
in 1849. I" poetry, Picken's best work is his " Bed- 
ouins," a production running through three cantos, which 
ought to be better known than it is at the present day, 
while his " Plague Ship " shows that he was a graceful, 
forceful, and interesting writer of prose. During the lat- 
ter part of his life he was a regular and welcome contrib- 
utor to Canadian newspapers and magazines. 

Picken's footsteps were directed to Montreal by the 
fact that an elder sister resided there, supporting herself 
by teaching music, and doubtless it was her influence 
that induced him to settle down in that beautiful city 
and give up his weary wanderings. Joanna B elf rage 
Picken was born at Paisley in 1798, and arrived in INIont- 
real in 1842. She was a writer of verses of at least re- 
spectable merit, and w^as a regular contributor to the 
" Literary Garland " and other publications. Her wTit- 
ings were never gathered together and issued in book 
form, although there was some talk of this being done 
shortlv after her death, in 1859. 



AMONG THE POETS. 383 

One of the strongest personalities in Scottish Hterary 
history of the eighteenth century was James Tytler, bet- 
ter known to readers of Scottish poetry, probably, as 
" Balloon Tytler." He was born in 1747 at Fern, 
Forfarshire, of which parish his father was minister. 
He studied medicine, made two voyages to Green- 
land, tried to build up a practice in Edinburgh, 
and finally became a literary hack, and in that 
capacity compiled, abridged, and wrote many books, 
and prepared others for the press, although he is now 
remembered mainly as the writer of a couple of fairly 
good songs. He was a most ingenious man, in- 
vented several mechanical contrivances, and had invari- 
ably on hand some grand scheme by which his own fort- 
unes, or those of the world in general, were to be im- 
proved. He was also a busy man; always devising, always 
writing, and always in extreme poverty. Sometimes he 
was glad to seek refuge from his creditors by confining 
himself within the limits of the debtors' Sanctuary at 
Holyrood, although it seems impossible to imagine how 
the most optimistic creditor could even dream of ever re- 
covering money from him. While in Edinburgh, in the 
Winter of 1786-7, Robert Burns formed the acquaint- 
ance of Tytler, and was frec[uently thrown intO' his soci- 
ety. In 1792, when the latter issued the prospectus of 
a newspaper, to be called the " Political Gazetteer," and 
which was intended to show up the shortcomings and 
denounce the repressive policy of the ruling powers 
against the people, the poet wrote to him: " Go on. Sir; 
lay bare, with undaunted heart and steady hand, that hor- 
rid mass of corruption called politics and statecraft." 

The prospects for the issue of the " Political Gazet- 
teer " did not pan out very well, and that same year Tyt- 
ler tried to arouse the people to a sense of their wrongs 
by a manifesto addressed to them. The publication of 
this handbill was verv obnoxious to the Government. 
Its language was impassioned and intemperate, and its 
sentiments were clearly seditious, as the laws of sedition 
were then interpreted. A warrant was at once issued for 
his arrest, but he escaped prison by flying to Ireland, and 



384 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

when his case was called, in his absence, for trial on Jan- 
uary 7, 1793, he was outlawed. From Ireland Tytler 
managed to sail to America. We first hear of him in 
the New World at Salem, Mass., where he edited the 
" Salem Register." He turned his medical skill to ac- 
count by publishing, in 1799, a " Treatise on the Plague 
and Yellow Fever," but the newspaper was his main- 
stay, and he continued to edit it until his death. This 
took place in 1804, and was the result of an accident. He 
was making his way home one dark night, and fell into 
a clay pit, where his body was found the next morning. 
Surely his was a career strange and wayward enough to 
form a basis for a dozen romances. Except for his few 
years in America, life was, at best, but a desolate road for 
him, and had he not been buoyed up by strong senti- 
ments of hope, we can easily understand how the gloom 
might have caused his descent into the most abject pov- 
erty and defiant sin. 

An even sadder story is that of John Lowe, who may 
be called the foremost of Scotland's single-poem poets. 
There are doubtless in Tytler's career many things which 
command our respect, for he was so much the victim of 
circumstances, so much a product and victim of the ill 
government of his times, that we can pity his misfort- 
imes while we admire his undoubted genius. But in the 
case of John Lowe there is no room for pity, and all the 
misfortunes which came upon him he richly deserved. 
He was born at Kenmure, in Galloway, in 1750. His 
father was a gardener, and, like most of the Scottish 
peasants, desired to see his son engage in the ministry, 
and denied himself so that the necessary education might 
be provided. In due time young Lowe graduated, and 
found his first employment in the family of Mr. Mac- 
Ghie of Airds as a tutor. Tlie family included several 
beautiful daughters, one of whom captured the heart of 
the young tutor, or thought she did. He certainly cap- 
tured hers. Another of the young ladies was engaged to 
be married to a young gentleman named Miller, and it 
was the news that Miller had been drowned at sea that 
inspired the song which has given Lowe a prominent 



Among the poets. 335 

place in the ranks of Scotland's song writers. Like every 
other heartless man, he could pour out any amount of 
sympathy for other people's sorrows, but had none to 
spare for woes of which he himself was the cause. He 
tried hard to get a church in Scotland, but somehow 
failed, and despairing of obtaining either position or pre- 
ferment in his native land, he resolved to seek them in 
the American Colonies. With the fondest vows, and 
professions of undying affection, he parted from his love 
at Airds and sailed for America in 1771. So far as can 
be seen, he forgot all about his plighted love very soon. 
Settling at Fredericksburg, Va., he tried to earn his liv- 
ing by teaching, but was only moderately successful. 
Then he fell in love, or professed to fall in love, with a 
\'irginian lady, but she would have nothing to do with 
him, and married another. Her sister, however, seemed 
to have an attachment for him, and he married her out 
of gratitude. Meanwhile he had taken holy orders in 
the Episcopal Church, and was established as rector of a 
congregation at Fredericksburg, but he did not prosper 
in a worldly way. He speedily tired of his wife, she dis- 
covered he was by no means the angel she had believed 
him to be before marriage, and her conduct was cer- 
tainly not conducive to his comfort, to say nothing of his 
happiness. Everything went wrong with him, somehow, 
and to soothe his misery, like many a fool, he took to 
drink. Then the end came rapidly, and he laid down the 
burden of life at Windsor Lodge, Va., in 1798, leaving 
behind him as his most useful legacy only the moral of a 
shipwrecked life — a life which would not have been ship- 
wrecked if truth had only been its rudder. Lowe wrote 
several poems, but they are all forgotten with the ex- 
ception of " Mary's Dream," yet that alone is sufihcicnt 
to give him immortality. 

A pathetic memory is that of John Graham, once w^ell 
known in New York as the " Blind Scottish Poet," but 
of whose career little can now be gatliered. Some of the 
old Scotch residents of wdiom the writer made inquiries 
in the seventies remembered him well, and spoke kindly 
of him, but their recollection was simply that of a respect- 



386 TPIE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

able old man, a man of quick intelligence, who earned a 
scanty living by selling books, especially those compiled 
or written by himself. He was blind, but made no com- 
plaint on that score or sought charity on account of his 
affliction, and his features were readily aroused into ex- 
pressive play from the usual placid repose of total blind- 
ness by any reference to Scotland or mention of anything 
pertaining to Scotsmen. So far as could be gathered, he 
was a native of Stirlingshire, and settled in America in 
early life. How or when he lost his eyesight is not 
known. He resided in New York, making a livelihood 
of the poorest sort, until 1850, when he migrated to the 
vicinity of Albany and managed a small property which 
had been bequeathed to him, and there his later years 
were spent in comparative comfort. He died about the 
year i860. 

One of Graham's principal works was published in 
1833, and, tmder the title of " Flowers of Melody," gave 
a capital selection of Scottish songs. The notes, critical, 
biographical, and illustrative, with which he graced the 
work stamped him as being a man of taste, research, and 
intellect. It is a valuable book, and capable of ranking 
with later and more pretentious publications. With an- 
other of his works, however, we have more to do. This 
is his " Scottish National Melodies," published in 1841, 
with music. Although his verses were pleasing, we can- 
not rank Graham very highly as a poet. His rhythm is 
far from perfect, while his imagery is commonplace or 
tame. But throughout the whole there runs a deep 
patriotism which forces us to admire the writer and read 
his productions with great interest. 

Another intensely patriotic poet, whose connection 
with America was, however, exceedingly brief — he 
crossed the Atlantic only to find a grave — was Robert 
Allan of Kilbarchan. He was born in that poetically 
famous Renfrewshire village in 1774, and was by trade 
a muslin weaver. He commenced writing verse in early 
life, and his inclinations in that direction were much 
encouraged by the friendship of Robert Tannahill and 
Robert A. Smith. The latter not onlv inserted several 



AMONG THE POETS. 387 

of Allan's songs in his " Scottish Minstrel," but set most 
of them to music. Allan also contributed several poems 
to JMotherwell's " Harp of Renfrewshire," and a volume 
of his wiitings appeared at Glasgow in 1836. In his 
edition of Tannahill (which is full of references to Allan) 
the late Mr. David Semple wrote: "The reception the 
volume met with greatly disappointed the author. He 
supposed his merits as a poet had been overlooked, and, 
brooding over the disappointment, he became irritable in 
his temper and gloomy in appearance. Some of his 
friends had emigrated to America and succeeded, and he 
was determined to follow them. As he was in the sixty- 
seventh year of his age, several of his accjuaintances 
remonstrated with him, but without success, and he sailed 
on 28th April, 1841, from Greenock for New York. All 
went well until the ship reached the Banks of Newfound- 
land, where the vessel was detained eight days by foggy 
weather, and the poet during that time caught a cold. 
He landed on the ist and died on the 7th June, 1841." 

P^rom the consideration of such lives as Tytler, Lowe, 
and Allan, with their inevitable sadness, we turn, for the 
sake of the change, to the happy and perfectly rounded 
career of the Rev, Dr. George Scott, one of the many 
sacred singers whom Scotland has given to America. 
Dr. Scott was born at Langside, Glasgow, in 1806, stud- 
ied for the ministry, mainly in Glasgow, and emigrated 
to America in 1832. Two years later he became pastor 
of a church at German Valley, and afterward had charge 
of the First Reformed Dutch Church at Newark, N. J., 
where he remained till his death, in 1858. He receiveil 
the degree of D. D. from Lafayette College in 1844, and 
in 1848 published a keenly critical and decidedly able 
dissertation " On the Genius of Robert Pollok." The 
labor of his life, and latterly its greatest earthly solace, 
was his lengthy poem of " The Guardian Angel/' which 
saw the light of print about the time of his death. " It 
is," says the author, " in the form of a dream, a series of 
conversations concerning the invisible state, the existence 
and ministry of holy angels, as well as their guardian- 
ship over men, held by persons who met accidentally at 



338 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

different places, connected by a slender thread of story." 
This is not a promising theme for a poem; one would 
need the genius of John Bunyan to build a popular 
work on such a foundation, and the poem as a whole is, 
it must be confessed, rather tedious. But it is full of 
many fine passages, and breathes throughout a deep 
religious feeling — the phase of religious feeling which, 
somehow, possibly because it is a true interpretation, 
inspires hope and peace in the heart of the reader. Re- 
ligious poetry, it must be confessed, except it be brief 
productions in the nature of hymns or Sabbath school 
recitations, or work of surpassing genius like " Paradise 
Lost," seems to be soon forgotten. All between these 
extremes appears to serve its day and generation — the 
generation that knew that writer — and then cjuietly to 
pass into the shadows of neglect. There is one peculiar- 
ity of this poem, however, which should in this place be 
pointed out. It is the result of thoughts conceived in 
Edinburgh and enlarged and extended at such places in 
America as Niagara Falls and the Mississippi, and there 
fore owes its inspiration directly to both countries — a true 
Scottish-American production. 

Bevond question the sweetest and best of all the Scot- 
tish-American lyrists was Hew Ainslie, who' died at 
Louisville, Ky., in 1878. His " Ingleside " has long been 
a favorite in America, and the lines beginning " It's dowie 
in the hint o' hairst " have been popular among all 
classes in Scotland, especially since they were introduced 
so patheticallv in Dr. Norman Macleod's beautiful story 
of "Wee Davie." Ainslie was born at Bargeny, Ayr- 
shire, in 1792, his father being a farmer. After being ed- 
ucated at Ballantrae, he was put to work on the B^argeny 
estates for the benefit of his health, and when eighteen 
years of age became apprenticed to a lawyer at Glasgow. 
But he had become enamored of the life he had been 
leading in the woods, and to escape beginning his ap- 
prenticeship he fled from his father's house and took ref- 
uge with some relatives at Roslin, near Edmburgh. 
There his father soon followed, and took up his own resi- 
dence. Young Ainslie's first employment was that of a 



AMONG THE POETS. 389 

bookkeeper in an Edinburgh brewery, and then he got a 
position as copyist in the General Register Office in 
the Scottish capital He also married about that time, 
and soon was busy solving the oft-attempted puzzle in 
human life of supporting a wife and weans on a small sal- 
ary. A short season employed as amanuensis to Pro- 
fessor Dugald Stewart was a pleasant interlude in a life 
which seemed to carry nothing but gloom in its future, 
and then, in 1821, Ainslie made up his mind to emigrate 
to the United States. Before doing so, he paid a farewell 
visit to Ayrshire in company with two friends, and the 
story of the trip was told in a little volume — his first — 
entitled " A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns." It ap- 
peared in 1822, and was reprinted in the memorial vol- 
ume, containing Ainslie's memoirs and a selection from 
his writings, published at Paisley in 1891. The work has 
some fine descriptive prose passages and a few good 
songs. Shortly after its publication Ainslie bade farewell 
to Scotland, and settled on a small farm in Rensselaer 
County, N. Y. A year later he was joined by his wife 
and children. In 1842 he moved to New Harmony, Ind., 
as he had thrown himself with all his heart into Robert 
Owen's social schemes, and thought he saw in the settle- 
ment at New Harmony the beginning of an earthly para- 
dise. The practical working of the scheme did not, how- 
ever, come up to his expectations, and after a while he 
removed to Shippensport, Ohio, where he established a 
small brewery. After brief residences in various towns, 
he finally settled in Louisville, which became his home 
in 1829, and was regarded as such until the end. In 
1852, however, he visited New York at the invitation of 
the Wellstood family, (the well-known engravers already 
referred to,) and continued with them for over ten years. 
In 1862 he revisited Scotland, and spent there two very 
happy years among scenes that had long been but a mem- 
ory. He was warmly welcomed on every side, and car- 
ried back with him over the Atlantic a host of fresh rem- 
iniscences and the good wishes of many new as well as 
old friends, which made Scotland dearer to him than ever. 
Soon after returning, he settled again at Louisville, and 



390 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his declining years were tempered by the devoted care of 
his family, then all grown up and " weel-daein.' " 

Ainslie will ever hold a place among the poets of Scot- 
land — not in the foremost rank, certainly, but along with 
Beattie, Wilson, Motherwell, Rodger, and others in the 
second circle. He wrote much, and often carelessly, but 
sufficient came from his pen to make a volume of verse 
excellent enough in quality to give him a recognized po- 
sition as a poet in any literature. He delighted in the 
use of the Doric; his years of toiling and excitement 
and worrying in America seemed to make it dearer to 
him as he advanced in life, and it uplifted his muse out 
of the levels, for everything which he wrote which was 
not " in guid braid Scots " seems flat and tame and little 
else than rhymed prose — prose that w-ould have been 
better expressed had it not been hampered by rhyme. 
" Mr. Ainslie," wrote Dr. John D. Ross in a memoir in hi 
valuable volume on " Scottish Poets in America," " was 
a poet in the truest sense of the word. His love for Scot- 
land, no doubt, stimulated his muse to sing forth her 
praises in songs which will ever retain a place in the 
hearts of his countrymen, but apart from this he has left 
us numerous ballads and lyrical pieces which we could 
not willingly let die. Many of these are of a very pa- 
thetic nature, and, in addition to their being very beauti- 
ful, they contain excellent sentiments expressed in the 
simplest of words." Three editions of his poems were 
published in this country during liis lifetime, and contri- 
butions from his pen appeared in " Whistlebinkie," and 
selections from his writings in all modern collections of 
Scottish poetry or song. 

William Wilson, bookbinder and bookseller, Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y., is still remembered as a pleasing writer, 
some of whose songs will long keep his memory green 
and give him a place in American literature. He was 
born at CriefT in 1801. His father having died in infancy, 
William began, at the age of seven years, the hard battle 
of life by being sent to help in herding sheep, and when 
fourteen years of age was apprenticed to a " cloth lap- 
per " in Glasgow. He afterward removed to Diuidee, 



AMONG THE POETS. 391 

where he varied the tedium of his trade by contributing- 
to the local papers. Then he went to Edinburgh, where 
lie was enabled to start in business as a dealer in coal. 
In 1833 he emigrated to the L^nited States, and, a year 
later, settled in Poug-hkeepsie, where he conducted a 
book business successfully until his death, in i860. His 
son, James Grant Wilson, has done good literary work 
as editor of several important publications, as well as by 
nuich original writing. 

William Wilson's poems have twice been published, 
and received very considerate treatment at the hands of 
the critics. One of them wrote: " He was a genuine 
son of song, and his genius is deserving- of even wider 
recognition than it receives at present. Simplicity and 
kindness are his greatest characteristics, and are shown in 
cverv line he writes. He is earnest and direct in his 
teaching, and whether singing the praises of his native 
land or the glories of the land in which he died, whether 
mourning beside the grave of a loved one, or warbling 
' Stanzas to a Child,' the hearty, whole-souled character 
of the man shines clearly forth." 

A truly gentle life was that of Mrs. Margaret Maxwell 
Martin, who died a few years ago at an advanced age at 
Columbia, S. C. She was born at Dumfries in 1807, and 
crossed tlie Atlantic with her parents in 181 5. They set- 
tled at Columbia, S. C, and there Margaret not only re- 
ceived her education, but married William Martin and 
spent her many years of useful life. For over seventeen 
years she managed and taught a female seminary at Co- 
lumbia, and she published many volumes of poetry and 
prose, among which her " Religious Poems" (1858) and 
" Scenes and Scenery of South Carolina " (1869) must 
hold a prominent place. 

A man of much promise, full of poetic spirit and rich 
fancy, but which, however, never developed at all in 
keeping with early hopes, was William Kennedy, who is 
better known to readers of Scottish poetry as the friend 
of William Motherwell than for anything he contributed 
to the minstrelsy of his native land. He was born at 
Paisley, or near it, in 1799: contributed, with Mother- 



392 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

well, to the " Paisley Magazine," and published in 1827 
a volume of poems, which was flatteringly received. He 
afterward removed to London and entered upon the 
career of a man of letters. Although fairly successful, 
he gladly accepted an offer to accompany Lord Durham, 
Governor General of Canada, to his post in the capacity 
of private secretary. When Lord Durham's term of of- 
fice expired Kennedy was appointed British Consul at 
Galveston, Texas, and held that offtce for many years. 
His observations at this pleasant post were published in 
two volumes, at London, in 1841, under the title of 
" Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of 
Texas." In 1847 1"'^ l^ft America, and, with the aid of a 
Government pension, took up his residence near London. 
He died in 1849. ^'s best-known poem is one he wrote 
after a visit to the grave of Motherwell, in the Glasgow 
Necropolis, and a set of stirring lines to Scotland, writ- 
ten on leaving it. (3ne or two of his songs, notably " The 
Serenade " and the " Camp Song," were once very popu- 
lar in the L'nited States, and are still favorites in Texas. 
It seems a pity that the exacting jealousy of journal- 
ism should have kept David Gray, long editor of the 
Buffalo " Courier," from devoting time to poetical com- 
position; otherwise, there seems no reason to doubt he 
might have obtained a foremost place among the world- 
renowned poets of America. But a man must live, and 
the thousand and one cares and anxieties of journalistic 
life are not conducive to the peace which permits the muse 
to essay lofty flights. So what we have to show for the 
poetic gift in Gray is mainly fragmentary compositions, 
" verses of occasion," although here and there his soul 
fairly gave itself up to the reign of fancy and, in the case 
of the verses called " The Last Indian Council on the 
Genesee," we have something that arrests attention, that 
carries us with the spirit of the author into realms beyond 
the veil, something that is bound to hold a place in liter- 
ature. Gray was born at Edinburgh in 1836. and settled 
in America when a boy. In 1859 he secured a position on 
the Buffalo " Courier," and in 1867 became its editor in 
chief. He held that position until 1882, when his health 



AMONG THE POETS. 393 

compelled his retirement. Afterward he acted as secre- 
tary to the Niagara Park Commission, and in that capac- 
ity did good work in restoring that great example of 
nature's mighty handiwork to a condition as free from 
evidences of the commercial instincts of mankind as pos- 
sible. But his health continued poor, and in 1888, when 
he had just started on a proposed journey to Cuba for 
rest, he was killed in a railroad accident near Bingham- 
ton, N. Y. Soon after that sad accident two elegant vol- 
umes, containing his life, letters, and poems, were pub- 
lished at Buffalo, and sulBciently indicate how valuable 
was the life thus summarily ended. Gray was proud of 
his Scotch birth and parentage, and took an active inter- 
est in Scotch affairs in Buffalo. As a journalist, he was 
the equal of any man of his time, while in private life his 
home was long one of the literary centres of Buffalo — a 
city of which literature is by no means one of its dis- 
tinguishing features. 

At the principal of the many enthusiastic celebrations, 
in January, 1859, of the centenary of the birthday of Rob- 
ert Burns in New York Henry Ward Beecher, then in the 
very zenith of his marvelous power as an orator, was 
selected to deliver one of the speeches. There was some 
dubiety in many minds as to how he would treat the mem- 
ory of the bard as a whole, and how he would view some 
of his shortcomings. At that juncture before the centenary 
festival came off, the following lines formed part of a 
poem which appeared in one of the New York papers 
and created considerable discussion: 

" His few sma' fau'ts ye need na tell; 
Folk say ye're no o'er guid yoursel; 

But De'il may care: 
Gin ye're but half as guid as Rab, 

We'll ask nae mair. 

" A century hence, an' wha can tell 
What may befa' yer cannie sel'? 

Some holy preacher 
jNlay tak' the cudgels u]) f(jr ane 

Ca'd Harry Beecher." 



394 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

Mr. Bcecher did the poet all the justice that his fond- 
est admirers could desire. The history of the poem did 
not cease, however, with the event which suggested it. 
It appeared at irregular intervals and in a desultory 
fashion imtil Mr. Beecher and his old friend Theodore 
Tilton had their memorable struggle in the law courts. 
Then some one remembered it. Several expressions in the 
verses quoted were deemed peculiarly applicable, and it 
was felt that the prophecy of the poet had been realized 
within a quarter of the century she had allotte'd for the 
need to arise for a defender of the preacher. So the lines 
were then reprinted in nearly every paper in the land 
and sagely commented on. Aery little seems to be 
known of Mrs. J. Webb, the authoress, except that she 
was a resident of New York, frequently contributed to 
the poets' corners of the New York papers, and died in 
this city about 1862. She was a woman of undoubted 
genius, a true poet, and every one of her effusions we 
have seen are of more than ordinary merit. 

A contemporary of Mrs. Webb's in New York City, 
and who was well known not alone as a writer of poems, 
but as a sculptor, was George W. Coutts, a native of Ed- 
inburgh, who settled in New York about 1856. He was 
one of tlie early members of the Caledonian Club, and 
not only took a deep interest in its welfare, but executed 
several exceedingly lifelike and skillfully modeled busts 
of its prominent members. During the visit of the 
Prince of Wales to America Coutts published a volume 
of his poems, which he dedicated to the Prince, and of 
that transaction he was very proud. He did not prosper 
in America for various reasons, and early in 1870 re- 
turned to Scotland. His death took place at Colchester, 
Essex, in 1895. 

Many years ago a family of musicians used to give en- 
tertainments throughout the United States, in Canada, 
and long were general favorites. The Fairbairn Family 
was known all over the continent, and clever they all 
were — the father and two, perhaps three, daughters. But 
the style of their programmes did not vary much, and 
the craving for something new that possesses the amuse- 



AMONG THE POETS. 395 

ment world — Scottish as well as other sorts — drove them 
to the wall. Their last appearances in New York — in the 
seventies — were dismal failures, although every one ad- 
mired the cleverness displayed, and soon after they left 
that city they got stranded somewhere in the upper part 
of the State of New York, and were finally heard from 
as living quietly — from necessity — on a small farm they 
had secured or bought in Canada. The father of the 
family, Angus Fairbairn. was an undoubted man of 
genius, and had he only possessed some share of busi- 
ness tact ought to have made a fortune by his own tal- 
ents and those of his family. But life seemed to be for 
him a continual struggle, a constant present disappoint- 
ment, with plenty of hopes, however, in the future — only 
they always remained there. He was born near Edin- 
burgh in 1829. While comparatively a young man he 
began his career as a lecturer and vocalist in London, 
and the success of his efforts led to liis making a tour 
through the United Kingdom, giving similar entertain- 
ments, combining lecture and music, as Wilson, the 
" king of Scotch vocalists," and which were afterward in- 
troduced all over the world by David Kennedy. In 1868 
Fairbairn published in London a volume of his verses 
under the title of " Poems by Angus Fairbairn, the Scot- 
tish Singer.'' Very soon afterward he removed to Can- 
ada and commenced the career of public entertainer 
which ended in the melancholy and unsatisfactory man- 
ner which has been related. Poor h^airbairn was worthy 
of a better fate. He was a warm-hearted man, full of na- 
tional enthusiasm, and possessed a rich vein of fancy — a 
vein that colored his whole life and gave him many glints 
of sunshine in spite of the clouds that hovered around 
him from the dawn to the darkness. 

In 1872 the Scottish community at Montreal was start- 
led by news of the death by accident of John Fraser, bet- 
ter known among them as " Cousin Sandy " the poet. 
He had been on a visit to Ottawa, and while enjoying a 
ramble among som.e rocks near the Parliament Buildings 
fell into the river and was drowned. He was a native of 
Portsoy, Banffshire, where he was born in 1810. A tai- 



396 THE SCOT m America. 

lor by trade, he early imbibed pronounced political opin- 
ions, for the tailor's " board " was then often transformed 
into a forum, and Fraser became a Chartist. He also 
began writing for the press, and such publications as 
" Reynolds's Newspaper," " The Northern Star," and 
" Lloyd's Weekly " received his contributions gladly. 
But somehow things went against him, and he con- 
cluded, in i860, to settle in Canada, where his father 
had taken up his abode some years previously. He 
arrived at his father's home at Stanstead, P. Q., only to 
find that his parent had died a few days before. He 
started in business as a tailor, and did very well, but he 
got tired of life in the country and removed to Montreal, 
where he became traveling agent for a bookselling and 
publishing concern. In that capacity his business took 
him all over Canada, and he made friends everywhere. 
In 1870, after being known for many years as a poet by 
his contributions to newspaper and periodical literature, 
he published a volume of his poems, a slender volume, 
printed on only one side of each page and entitled a 
" Tale of the Sea," the name of its opening and lengthiest 
piece. He sold the volume as he went along on his jour- 
neys, and the edition, which met with a very kindly re- 
ception at the hands of the newspaper critics, was soon 
exhausted. Fraser might have h.eld political office but 
for his known advanced Radical opinions, and for the 
fact that in his poems he mercilessly ridiculed whoever 
or whatever displeased him — whatever he thought was 
wrong — in party or individual, statesman or politician. 
He was by no means a great poet, and he expended too 
much of what ability he had in merely passing themes, 
though it is easy to see that his ability was great enough 
to have won for him a higher and more popular position 
in the ranks of Canada's poets than is now even likely to 
be accorded to him. His principal poem, the " Tale of 
the Sea," contains many stirring — even beautiful — pas- 
sages, its story is graphically told, but its theme hardly be- 
comes the dignity of poetry. So, too, with much of his 
political pieces, their " snap " and vitality have departed 
with the causes which inspired them. 



AMONG THE PORTS. 397 

There died in Brooklyn on May 12, 1894, a Scottisli 
poet and song writer who had long enjoyed considerable 
popularity on both sides of the Atlantic and been awarded 
a prominent place among the lyrical writers who have 
given to Scotland the richest body of song in the world. 
This was Thomas C. Latto, one of the original " Whistle- 
jjinkians," who for many years prior to his death led a 
life of comfortable leisure amid the companionship of his 
books, and beguiling the days to the end by adding to 
his own literary work. Latto was born at Kingsbarns, 
P^ifeshire, where his father was schoolmaster, in 1818. 
After studying law for five sessions at St. Andrews he 
went to Edinburgh, where for some time he was em- 
ployed in the office of the late Sheriff Aytoun. He also 
resided in Dundee for a time, and for two years was en- 
gaged in Glasgow in a commission business. From the 
time he went to Edinburgh he became known as a poet, 
and his contributions were everywhere welcomed, as was 
a volume of his collected pieces wdiich he ventured upon 
publishing. His " Whistlebinkie " songs and several 
pieces that appeared in Blackwood's Magazine showed 
he had caught the public taste, and a bright literary 
future in Scotland seemed to be within the grasp of the 
young writer. But fate ordained otherwise, and in 1854 
he crossed the Atlantic to begin life anew under strange 
conditions. Settling in New- York City, he soon made 
hosts of friends among his countrymen, and so high was 
their appreciation of his genius that it was in his interests 
the company was formed that started the Scottish Amer- 
ican Journal in 1857. Latto was editor, and the business 
manaa;ement was intrusted to William Finlay, another 
Scotsman, a newspaper man of much enterprise, who 
afterward died under distressing circumstances in Can- 
ada. The two men were ill matched, and the paper soon 
passed into other hands, and ultimately won a high rank 
among American weeklies. Mr. Latto finally moved to 
Brooklyn, and for a long time was connected with the 
" Times " of that city. A volume of his poems was is- 
sued in 1892 at Paisley under the title of " Memorials of 
Avdd Lang Syne," but while it met with a flattering re- 



398 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ception at the hands of the critics, it failed to command 
public interest. It really contains some of his best work 
and deserved a wider degree of popularity than seemed 
to be its fate. About the same time Mr. Latto issued a 
substantial volume containing a memoir and. selection of 
poems of his old friend, Hew Ainslie, and it enjoyed a 
wide sale. 

In a memorial tribute to Latto, published soon after 
the poet's death in The Edinburgh Scotsman and other 
papers, Dr. John D. Ross, who probably knew more of 
his latest literary work and aspirations than any one else, 
said: " As a man of letters his place at present may sim- 
ply be among the minor poets of his country, but he has 
left poems in manuscript superior even to those acknowl- 
edged immortal efTusions of his which have already been 
published, and these will ultimately procure for him a 
high position among the prominent Scottish poets of the 
nineteenth century.'' However this may be, we can 
simply judge by the record before us, and we can only 
say that the memory of Latto and his other works will be 
kept alive by his lyrical pieces, rather than by anything 
else from his pen which is now before the world. Such 
pieces as " When We Were at the Schule," " Sly Widow 
Skinner," " The Kiss Ahint the Door," and one or two 
others will always hold a place in the literature of his 
country and in the hearts of his countrymen. 

The late Rev. Dr. Robert L. Kerr, for over sixteen 
years a minister in the Congregational Church in this 
country, was the author of at least one volume of poems 
and several volumes of a devotional cast. He was born 
in Kilmarnock, and for a time was minister of a church 
in Forres. For seven years he was pastor of the Congre- 
gational Church at Wakefield, Kan., and then accepted a 
call to Tomah, Wis., and died in 1895, shortly after en- 
tering on his duties there. A volume of poems, mostly 
in his native Doric, was found in his desk ready for pub- 
lication, but it has never appeared. Dr. Kerr was a man 
of superior ability, but never seemed to rise in life in ac- 
cordance with his deserts. 

There was a vein of true poetic sentiment in the men- 



AMONG THE POETS. 399 

tal equipment of Donald Ramsay of Boston, who died 
at Liverpool while en route to Scotland, in 1892. He 
was born at Glasgow in 1848, and started the business 
of life by becoming a printer in a valentine-making es- 
tablishnient. When he died he was managing Director 
of the Heliotype Printing Company of Boston. Leading 
an active business life, Mr. Ramsay found little time to 
devote to the muses, but whatever he permitted to appear 
in print testified to his gracefulness of diction and the del- 
icacy and exuberance of his fancy. He was proud of 
Scotland, and, like so many others, when the muse was 
with him his heart was across the sea. It seems a pity 
that he did not gather his poems into a volume before his 
untimely death. They are, most of them, too good to be 
forgotten, and that seems now likely to be their fate, scat- 
tered as they are through all sorts of pubHcations. 

In many respects the most thoughtful, the most richly 
endowx'd, of all the Scottish American poets was Alex- 
ander McLachlan of Amaranth, Ontario, who died sud- 
denly at Orangeville on March 20, 1896. Somehow his 
genius never seemed to find the heights into whicn most 
people acquainted with the poet deemed it capable of 
reaching, and though he had a wide circle of readers, it 
was mainly limited to Canada, and he failed to win that 
general meed of approbation and popularity which has 
been so often accorded to men who did not possess one 
tithe of his ability. Circumstances, seemingly, were 
against him ; how or why we cannot exactly determine, 
but in reviewing the career of this man we cannot help 
from thinking that circumstances, or, to put it flatly — 
luck — have as much to do with molding and shaping a 
man's life career as have his own abilities and resplendent 
virtues. Of course, this is rank moral treason, according 
to the Samuel Smiles school of biographers, but no man 
who has had much practical knowledge of the world will 
gainsay its truth or be unable to point to more than one 
illustration in its support. 

At all events, McLachlan's life was passed without the 
recognition it deserved, and in a constant fight with pov- 
erty, until, in his old age, the generosity of a number of 



400 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his benefactors cleared his farm at Amaranth from mort- 
gage and debt, and so made his closing years pass on to 
their fruition without the perpetual worriment about 
making ends meet, which had for so long before been 
painfully in evidence in connection with his literary and 
business plans. 

McLachlan was born at Johnstone, Renfrewshire, in 
1820. Like most of the bards of Renfrewshire, that 
county of poets, he was born and reared in humble cir- 
cumstances, but from his earliest years he imbibed that 
sturdy sense of independence which is so marked a feat- 
ure in the Scottish character. When young he learned 
to be a tailor and worked for a time at that trade in Glas- 
gow. He was a studious young man, according to his 
opportunities, and developed into a stanch adherent of 
Chartism. Glasgow and Paisley at that time were 
strongly stirred by the political movement that promised 
to enlarge citizen freedom, (and did enlarge it, in spite of 
Peterloo massacres, prisons, hulks, and other weapons 
of contentment,) and as a result the flood of oratory on 
such places as Glasgow Green and the Braes o' Glenif¥er 
was something extraordinary. Among others, young Mc- 
Lachlan caught the art of public speaking, and was al- 
ways listened to with attention because his words were 
carefully thought out, and he was a perfect master of 
every question on which he aired his views, a compliment 
that cannot be paid to many political orators. 

Li 1820, seeing no chance for improving his condition 
in Scotland, McLachlan emigrated to Canada, and sooiv 
after his arrival settled on a farm. That occupation was 
the basis of his career thereafter, but he was known a few 
years after settling there as a lecturer on literary topics, 
and in poetry and prose was a frequent contributor to tht 
periodical press of the country. In 1862 he revisited Scot- 
land on a mission to speak upon the advantages of Can- 
ada as a field for immigration, and his lectures on that 
theme were eagerly listened to all over the country and 
attracted general attention. His reception in his native 
country was an exceptionally flattering one. He was 
welcomed on every side, received with many marks of 



AMONG THE POETS. 401 

honor, and presented with cjuitc a number of vahiable 
tokens of love from admiring friends. 

In 1855 he pubhshed his hrst vokime of poetry, and it 
was fohowed by two others at short intervals, w'hile in 
1875 a colleeted edition of his writings appeared in To- 
ronto. All these volumes were very highly praised by 
the press and by critics, but not one of them added much, 
if anything, to the poet's financial resources. His lectur- 
ing expeditions had made him well known all over Can- 
ada, and he had friends in every section, but for the last 
ten or twelve 3'ears of his life he confined himself mainl) 
to the farm, beguiling the tedium of each long wintry sea- 
son by his pen. He continued to woo the muse to the 
last, and age did not seem to weaken his fancy or to les- 
sen his love for the beautiful in nature. Latterly he 
soared into realms of thought at which most poets, even 
the most gifted, enter with dread — the why, wherefore, 
and whither of life; its mystery, its recompense; the mean- 
ing of its signs, its promises; the present and the future, 
and if he did not succeed in unraveling any of the se- 
crets, if he did not succeed in piercing the veil that sep- 
arates the seen from the unseen, he at least gives us the 
impression of one whose Vvdiole soul was in the cjuest of a 
solution of the mystery of life; that of an intellectual 
pioneer of a giant mold piercing' through the forest 
and brushing aside all that seemed to obstruct his view of 
the land that lay beyond, dimly shimmering as at the end 
of a long and narrow vista among the trees. 

In connection with the singers we may be pardoned 
here for departing from a rule hitherto pretty generally 
observed so far in this volume, and make reference to a 
few of those wlio, in America, are still weaving their lays 
and adding, in greater or less degree, to the poetical an- 
thology of the land of their adoption. Sons of song are 
seldom, somehow, overburdened with their store of this 
world's goods, and as they are all doing something, or 
honestly trying to do something, to add to the pleasures 
of existence, attempting it may be to lift men from the 
contemplation of the mere things of this life to the sweet- 
er realms of fancy, or the still more practical purpose of 



402 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

developing the good that is in them, calHng into play, as 
it were, the exercise of their higher nature, it may be not 
out of place to gratify some of them at least by a slight 
reference here. In view of this, some notice of the " liv- 
ing choir " may close his chapter. All those mentioned, 
and others who might be mentioned if space permitted, 
will be acknowledged as sweet singers, even if it be ad- 
mitted that they have " missed the highest gift in poetry," 
as a recent reviewer aptly put it in estimating the value 
of the poetic gifts of the late Bayard Taylor. 

The venerable " Bard of Lochfyneside," Evan Mc- 
Coll, still resides in Toronto, enjoying the beautiful sun- 
set of a life that has been passed in comparative quiet, 
and broken by no ambition save recognition of his poetic 
merits, an ambition that was fairly gratified many years 
ago. McColl was born at the clachan of Kenmore, Ar- 
gyllshire, in 1808. and received as liberal an education as 
the parish of Inveraray aiTorded. By his twenty-third 
year he had become famous throughout the Highlands 
for his poems in the ancient language of that region, his 
mother tongue, which continued to be the tongue of his 
thoughts throughout his career. His English writings, 
beautiful as most of them are, are but translations, after 
all, from the Gaelic in which they were conceived and 
fashioned and clothed. 

In 1836 he published his first volume, a collection of 
his English as well as Gaelic poems, under the title of 
" The Mountain Minstrel." It was very heartily received, 
and the author felt encouraged in 1839 to issue a volume, 
" Clarsach nam Beann," solely devoted to Gaelic produc- 
tions, and it widened the measure of his fame in the north, 
while his other volume made him known to readers un- 
acquainted with the language spoken in the Garden of 
Eden. In 1839 he became a clerk in the Customs Service 
at Liverpool, and ten years later paid a visit to Canada 
for the purpose of seeing- his relatives. To his native land 
he never returned. He secured a position in the Cus- 
toms Service at Kingston, Ontario, and there he remained 
until he was, by dint of long service, permitted to retire 
on a small pension. He soon became a prominent mem- 



AMONG THE POETS. 403 

ber of the Scottish colony at Kingston, was active in the 
work of the St. Andrew's Society, and for many years 
honored it by acting as its bard, and in that capacity 
seldom allowed a festival to pass without hailing the oc- 
casion with a song. In Canada he has several times pub- 
lished a volume of his poetical compositions, and to the 
newspapers of the Dominion he has been and is a frequent 
contributor. 

Alexander H. VVingfield, a resident of Hamilton, On- 
tario, since 1850, is the author of at least one poem — 
" The Crape on the Door " — that will live long after he 
has passed over to the land where the poets never cease 
singing. At one time it was thought that many gems 
might be added to the poetry of the continent by his pen, 
but somehow these high hopes have not been realized. 
Mr. Wingfield has done some creditable work, and some 
of his lines, such as " A Shillin' or Twa," are not only far 
above the average, but stamp him as a true poet; yet he 
seems to us to have frittered away his gifts on themes 
that were unworthy the attention of any bv;t the most 
conmionplace poetasters. He w^as born at Blantyre, Lan- 
arkshire, Dr. Livingstone's birthplace, in 1828, and was 
early sent to work in a cotton factory in Glasgow. In 
1847 he settled in the beautiful town of Auburn, N. Y., 
and three years later removed to Hamilton, where he se- 
cured employment as a mechanic in the shops of the 
Great Western Railway. In 1877 he received an appoint- 
ment in the Canadian Customs Department, and in that 
vocation his days are still passed. 

For many years E. N. Lamont, a native of Argyllshire, 
was one of the best-known writers on the New York 
press, and for a time was one of the editors of the " Inter 
Ocean " of Chicago. A graceful, fluent writer, full of 
humor and strange conceits, he had tlie happy art of tell- 
ing a newspaper story with those little indefinable touches 
of gracefulness in style and appositeness in thought which 
is not generally regarded as appertaining to the rush and 
excitement of newspaper work. As an essayist pure and 
simple ATv. Lamont was without an equal while in har- 
ness, but he has for some years been living a life of placid 



404 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

retirement in Guernsey, one of the Channel islands. Dur- 
ing his years of newspaper activity Mr. Laniont was wont 
to woo the muse as a relaxation from the vexations and 
heartbreaks incidental to such a career, and many of his 
verses have been frequently reprinted, often without his 
name. 

Mr. D. M. Henderson, bookseller, Baltimore, is an- 
other writer who has done much to make beautiful the 
strains of the Scottish-American harp. Born in Glas 
gow in 1 85 1, Mr. Henderson settled in Baltimore in 1873, 
and found employment as clerk until he was able to enter 
into business for himself. In 1888 he published a volume 
containing a selection of his poetical writings, and was 
gratified at the kindly treatment it received from the crit- 
ics, as well as its ready acceptance by the public. One of 
the sweetest of the living Scottish-American poets is Mr. 
Robert Whittet, one of the best-known citizens of Rich- 
mond, Va., and a gentleman whose assistance has often 
been evoked by the writer of this work in connection 
with many individuals. Mr. Whittet w'as born at Perth 
in 1829, and was long engaged in business as a printei 
there. In 1869, although his business was fairly success- 
ful, he desired a change, and he crossed the Atlantic. 
Purchasing some four hundred acres of land near Will- 
iamsburg, Va., he essayed an agricultural career, but 
after a time he realized that " there was nothing in it," 
and he removed to Richmond, started again in his old 
trade, and now is at the head of one of the best-equipped 
printing plants in the South. In 1882 he published a 
volume of verse under the title of " The Brighter Side of 
Suffering, and Other Poems," which met with a large sale 
and stamped him as a poet of no ordinary merit. 

Mr. D. MacGregor Crerar, ex-President of the New 
York Burns Society and its Secretary for over twenty- 
five years, is a writer of no mean ability, whose lines dis- 
play a fullness of thought, a carefulness of diction, and a 
concentration of sentiment which are the very essence of 
poetic composition. Beyond a poem on " Robert Burns," 
printed at the request of the Burns Society, Mr. Crerar 
has published nothing in book form, although often re- 



AMONG THE POETS. 405 

quested to do so, especially since he appeared as one of 
the poetic heroes in Mr. William Black's novel of " Stand- 
fast, Craig-Royston." Possibly his strongest pieces are 
his sonnets, although in such lyrics as " Caledonia's Blue 
Bells " he touches the heart of every reader who possesses 
even a spark of sentiment, while his lines entitled " The 
Eirlic Well " and " My Bonnie Rowan Tree " are class- 
ical in their beauty. But whatever this author writes has 
a certain standard below which he never falls, for he be- 
lieves that the muse is one of the best gifts heaven vouch- 
safes to men, and that for the gift men should in return 
clothe its utterances with the utmost care. He is a native 
of Amulree, Perthshire. 

Dr. J. M. Harper of Quebec, one of the best-known 
educationalists in Canada, is also one of that country's 
poets. He was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, in 1845, 
and has been not only a frequent contributor to the press, 
but the author of a number of historical and biographical 
works, while as a lecturer he has won many hearty en- 
comiums. All his poems, whether Scotch " or other- 
wise," betray a keen sense of the human heart, an intense 
love for nature, and a hearty appreciation of all that is 
beautiful and true. He sings frequently of Scotland and on 
Scottish themes, but his muse is mainly cosmopolitan, and 
deals with humanity irrespective of land or clime. It 
might be said that he judges the world through Scotch 
spectacles, but if that be a fault, this work is not likely 
to admit it. There is not a namby-pamby line in all Dr. 
Harper's verses, nothing that is not worth reading for 
its thought and sentiment, and nothing that will not ele- 
vate the reader. 

Mr. James D. Crichton of Brooklyn, who was born in 
Edinburgh in 1847, is a writer very similar in his tastes 
and sympathies to Dr. Harper. A man of superior intel- 
lect, widely read, and investing every subject on which 
he writes with a peculiar charm, the reading public have 
a right to expect more from him than has yet appeared. 
He has not written much, but what he has written is full 
of melody, and confirms in us the impression that in him 
poetry — song — is a natural gift, which the world h.as a 



406 THH SCOT IN AMERICA. 

right to expect to see utilized to its fullest extent. An- 
other Brooklyn poet who has not written as much as he 
should have written is Andrew IS'IcLean, editor of the 
" Citizen " and for many years managing editor of " The 
Brooklyn Eagle." He is a. native of Dumbartonshire, but 
has resided in America since his fifteenth year, and his 
devotion to journalism has checked his inclination to wan- 
der into other fields in which he might have made his 
mark in literature. Mr. William M. Wood is also a 
Scotch Brooklyn journalist whose abilities as a poet have 
never been fully cultivated. As editor of " The Brooklyn 
Daily Times " his days are fully occupied, but what he 
has written has stamped him as undeniably capable of yet 
higher flights. Mr. Wood is a native of Edinburgh and 
started in life as a printer. 

Robert Reid, ("Rob Wanlock,") the " laureate of the 
Scottish moors," has resided in Montreal for several years 
and has won an honorable position in Canadian as well 
as in Scottish literature. It cannot be said that the Do- 
minion has influenced his muse to any extent. He lives 
in Canada, but his heart is in Scotland, and when his 
muse is stirred it is by a breeze wafted from the old green 
hills and dim gray muirs of his ain countree. Born in 
the pleasant village of Wanlockhead, right on the boun- 
dary between the counties of Lanark and Dumfries, it is 
of the South of Scotland he sings, and the scenery and 
landscapes of that section give to his lines their peculiar 
color, just as Arg\dlshire has colored the Scottish land- 
scape in the poems of that older bard, Evan McColl. Mr. 
Reid is one of nature's poets, that is to say, he finds his 
best themes in the lilt of the laverock, the wild cry of 
the whaup, the brown heather, and the simple affections 
of the heart, and to read his lines is to get, as it were, a 
fresh and delightful glimpse of the land he loves so well. 

Andrew Wanless, bookseller in Detroit, has published 
several volumes of his poetry and won a wide circle of 
readers. He was born at Longformacus, Berwickshire, 
in 1825. In 1851 he settled in Toronto, where he en- 
gaged in business as a bookbinder, but w^as burned out 
and lost his all. In 1861 he removed to Detroit, and slowly 



AMONG THE POETS. 407 

but surely recovered his losses. He is not only a poet, 
but an authority on poets, particularly Scotch, and he 
discusses their merits with rare critical acumen and with 
a fund of story and illustration which makes him a de- 
lightful conversationalist. All his own poems are Scotch, 
and he handles " our mither tongue " with the ease of a 
master. 

James Kennedy, a native of Forfarshire and many 
years a resident of New York City, has published a 
couple of volumes of verse and written much that has ap- 
peared in fugitive form. His best effort, " Noran Water,'" 
is a pure idyll, redolent of the Scottish countryside and 
evincing a wealth of imagery that delights the reader. 
Another New York poet is John Paterson, a native of 
Inverness, most of }vhose productions have appeared only 
in newspapers, where they have attracted marked atten- 
tion and been frequently reprinted, and Mr. H. Macpher- 
son, a younger bard hailing from the Hignlands, has 
also won recognition as a poet from his efforts in Gaelic 
as well as in English during his residence in New York. 

Mr. W. C. Sturoc, who was born in the auld toon of 
Arbroath in 1822, has written a large number of verses 
which speak plainly of the goodness of his heart, the depth 
of his affection for his native land, and the ripe scholar- 
ship and Christian spirit which direct his daily thoughts. 
An estimable man in every way, a loyal American citizen, 
and a leader in the society in which he moves, Mr. Sturoc 
is passing through the sunset of life in his home- at Sun- 
apee, N. H., in a way that proves the truth of the prom- 
ised reward that comes from a well-spent youth and man- 
hood. His poems are ecjually divided between the old 
land and the new, and every line he has written shows 
how equally dear both are to him. John Imrie of To- 
ronto has published two volumes of his poems, and sev- 
eral of his songs, set to music, have become justly pop- 
ular. He has the lyrical genius strongly developed, and 
is equally felicitous in his Canadian and Scotch themes. 
William Murray of Hamilton, Ontario, a Breadalbane 
Highlander, is a ready and pleasant writer of Scottish 
verse, mainly on historical themes, which have made 



408 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

his name known far beyond the confines of the town in 
which he has his home. Mr. Wilham Anderson of 
Auburn, N. Y., a native of Duntocher, has written sev- 
eral stirring songs, one of which, " Old Glory," has 
become very popular. An industrious writer is ]\Ir. J. 
Porteous Arnold of Quebec, and so is William Lyle, too 
industrious to give his rhyming cjualities an opportunity 
to rise to the heights they seem capable of attaining. 

The Rev. William Wye Smith of Newmarket, Ontario, 
a native of Jedburgh, has become known on both sides 
of the St. Lawrence as a writer of hymns, as well as of 
tuneful verses. He is also an adept of the Doric, and prob- 
ably no man in America has given the language of Rob- 
ert Burns more patient or critical study. Mr. J. D. Law 
of Philadelphia is another writer who has a firm grasp of 
the Doric and can use it with remarkable facility. He is 
a poet of no mean order, and soon after his arrival in the 
Quaker City, in 1886, became noted among the Scots 
resident there for his rhyming gifts. Since then he has 
become more widely known, for his volume of poems, 
issued in I'aisley a few years ago under the title of 
" Dreams o' Hame " won golden opinions from the press 
both in Scotland and America, and the edition was speed- 
ily disposed of. Mr. Law is a native of Lumsden, Aber- 
deenshire. 

As an example of a purely Scottish-American writer, 
that is to say, of a writer born in America of vScottish an- 
cestry, we might mention Wallace Bruce, who for sev- 
eral years was United States Consul at Edinburgh, and 
even now, although his home is again in America, holds 
the office of Poet Laureate of Canongate Kilwinning 
Lodge, Edinburgh, in succession to Robert Burns, the 
Ettrick Shepherd, and other well-known Scottish poets. 
Born in Columbia County, N. Y., Mr, Bruce was edu- 
cated at Yale LTniversity, and afterward traveled over 
Scotland, England, and a goodly part of Europe. Then, 
on his return, he ascended the lecture platform and grad- 
ually rose in popularity until he was regarded as one of 
the most brilliant orators of the Ivceums. Such themes as 
" Robert Burns," " Walter Scott," and " Washington Irv- 



AMONG THE POETS. 409 

ing " showed that the bent of his mind leaned toward the 
land of his ancestry, and from time to time the poems 
which appeared from his pen in various periodicals 
proved that Scottish literature had been made by him a 
special field of study. The success which his various 
volumes of verse — " Old Homestead Poems," " Wayside 
Poems," " In Clover and Heather " among the number — 
has met with is satisfactory assurance to his many admir- 
ers and friends that his poetic merit is generally appre- 
ciated. 

This theme, however, might easily be extended through 
a number of chapters, but a limit must be made, and it 
is as well to close with the gifted son of song whose 
merits we have just discussed. It seems hard to pass over 
with brief mention such undoubted singers as James 
Linen of California and New York, P. Y. Smith of Wil- 
kinson, Mass.; William Murdock of St. John, N. B., and 
a score of others; but perhaps the entire subject will some 
day receive full and fitting attention and treatment. 

What has been written, however, imperfect as it is, is 
sufificient to prove the theory with which the chapter 
started — that the Scots in America did not leave their 
harps behind them when they crossed the Atlantic, and 
that they are as busy helping to build up the literature of 
America as they are in building up all its other interests. 

r>ut the Scot at home has also had a great deal to do 
with molding and shaping American literature. No poet 
not a native of the soil is more studied or appreciated 
than Robert Burns, and nowhere are the lesson of his life 
and the significance of his mission better understood. 
Hundreds of editions of his works have been printed in 
America, and in such compilations as the annual volumes 
of " Burnsiana " and the monograph on Highland Mary, 
and in the tributes of such men as Whittier, Longfellow, 
Emerson, Holmes, and Beecher the national love and 
reverence for the great poet of the Scottish people has 
found fitting expression. Every Scotch poetical work of 
eminence from the days of Ramsay has been reprinted in 
the States, and sometimes, as in the case of Motherwell's 
collected writings and Pollok's " Course of Time," the 



410 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

number of American editions exceed those of the old 
land. Sir Waher Scott's writings in prose, as in poetry, 
are as thoroughly famihar on the banks of the Hudson 
as by the side of the Clyde, and, indeed, in reviewing a 
list of American reprints of Scotch poetical works recently 
the writer was almost forced to think that the United 
States had simply adopted the modern poetical literature 
of his native land and quietly appropriated it as her own. 
So, too, wnth Scotch songs. " Auld Lang Syne " is as 
much the popular anthem of America as of Scotland, as 
much adopted and naturalized as though it had passed 
through a dozen courts of record, and the same might 
be said of several other lyrics. America as yet has hard- 
ly produced a native minstrelsy, but there is no doubt 
that gradually some volkslied peculiar to herself will be 
evolved, and we may be sure also that it will be more 
after the manner of the songs of Scotland than any other. 
No songs can charm even a cultivated American audi- 
ence like the simple ditties that first awoke the echoes on 
the north side of the Tweed, and " Annie Laurie," " Bon- 
ny Doon," " The Lass o' Cowrie," " O' a' the Airts," 
and " Robin Adair " are as great favorites in America as 
though they were indigenous to the soil. Indeed, the 
only approach to a native minstrelsy in America was that 
introduced by the minstrel troupes — now going out of 
fashion — and their melodies, on the authority of Ceorge 
Christie, the founder and greatest of all these singers, 
were most popular when they were re-echoes of, or rem- 
iniscent of the songs which were and are the favorites of 
the people in the Land of Robert Burns. 




CHAPTER XV. 

SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 

IT is difficult to estimate how many Scottish societies 
of one name or another there are in the United States 
and Canada. They far exceed, considering the relative 
population, those of Ireland or England, and there is 
hardly a place on the continent where there are half a 
hundred Scots settled where they have not organized a 
society — sometimes two. Possibly the reason for this is 
a desire of having an outlet for patriotic sentiment, or a 
wish to preserve the memories of auld lang syne, or an 
impulse to keep " shouther to shouther " m a strange 
land, or possibly all three. The underlying reason, how- 
ever, it seems to us, is an unconscious survival of the old 
spirit of clanship, which causes Highlander and Low- 
lander, Mearnsman and Whistler, Gleskie chap and Pais- 
ley body to shake hands and fraternize when they meet 
under a foreign sky with a degree of friendship and sen- 
timent which would never evolve from their inner con- 
sciousness were their feet treading their native heath. 
Then, too, this feeling of clannishness, this making a real 
live thing of a latent sentiment, becomes more intense, 
more outspoken, more precious, more demonstrative, the 
further the Scot is removed from his native soil. On the 
Pacific coast the Scottish gatherings are generally the 
most thoroughgoing Scotch affairs in the world, and 
everything must be redolent of the heather. On the At- 
lantic sealaoard, especially around New York City, where 
Scotland is only a question of a week's sail, they are not 
so demonstrative, but even there they are more Scotch — 
more old-fashioned Scotch — in their gatherings than are 
the Scots at home. As a rule, more wearers of the High- 
411 



412 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

land costume used to be seen at the annual games of the 
New York Caledonian Club than at most similar gath- 
erings in the Land o' Cakes, and many a Scot has con- 
fessed that he never understood what the word pcrfer- 
vidmn meant when applied to Caledonia until after he 
had been a short time in the New World. In Scotland, 
St. Andrew is accepted as a figurehead, possessing the 
same amount of usefulness as the figurehead on an old 
ship; but in America he is a very real personage, and 
thousands of acts of thoughtful kindness are done year 
out and year in under the inspiration of his name. 

The Scottish organizations in America cover almost 
every field in which the Scot abroad takes an interest — 
charity, patriotism, sociability, and mental or physical 
improvement. There are the St. Andrew's Societies, 
Caledonian organizations — clubs or societies — Order of 
Scottish Clans, Order of Sons of Scotland, Burns clubs, 
curling clubs, and various others. When a Scot cannot 
find any of these to his taste, or when he is not numerous 
enough to form some one of them, he expends his energy 
in the kirk — which, after all, according to the Reforma- 
tion dictates, ought to be a complete and perfect club for 
the requirements of any man. In it the Scot can dis- 
pense charity, and when he pushes ahead the Presbyte- 
rian standard his patriotism is flattered by a knowledge 
that in his own sphere he is carrying on the work the 
foundation of which was laid by John Knox and Andrew 
Melville, and which was doubly consecrated by the 
struggle for Christ's Crown and Covenant, which has 
made" Scotland one of the world's landmarks for re- 
ligious liberty. 

The oldest existing Scottish society in America is the 
Scots' Charitable of Boston, which was founded in 
1657. and to which reference has already been made in a 
previous chapter. It is now virtually a St. Andrew's So- 
ciety in all but the name. Doubtless there were Scottish 
organizations in the Colonies before it, but. if so, they 
have passed away and left no sign, and its precedence in 
point of age is undisputed. 

The St. "^Andrew's Societies of Charleston, S. C, Phila- 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 413 

delphia, New York, and tlie North British Society at 
Hahfax, N. S., are all over a century old. Many wonder 
what the early members of these org^anizations got to orate 
about as each anniversary came around. They indulg^ed 
doubtless largely in such sentiments as " Charity," '* The 
Leal Heart," and " Patriotism," and they toasted places, 
like — " lona. Where Religion and Learning Found Ref- 
uge in the Middle Ages," but they could not drink to the 
genius of Robert Burns or glorify Walter Scott. They 
knew nothing about the steam engine, or the Free Kirk, 
or the battle of Waterloo, or Dr. Livingstone, or Adam 
Smith, or Mungo Park, or the Cardross case, or Car- 
lyle's ideas of heroes and hero worship. Of course, they 
could talk about Bruce and Wallace, the fight at Largs 
and the battle at Bannockburn, John Knox and the Ref- 
ormation, the Lhiion of the Crowns, and a lot of other 
things. To us these seem to be too far back in the mists 
of history to evoke much wild enthusiasm, but still the 
earlier sons of St. Andrew were able to make the air re- 
echo with their cheers as loudly as do their descendants 
at the present day. The Scot of 1657 and the Scot of the 
passing day were alike in one respect- — and in so much 
are they bound together — in pledging with enthusiasm 
" The Day an' a' wha honour it." Our ancient as well as 
our modern orators on " The Day " claimed that every- 
thing on the earth, above, below, or under the earth 
which is at all worth thinking about, looking at, or hav- 
ing, was either made by a Scotsman or that a Scotsman 
" bossed the job.'' 

The oldest organization in America bearing the name 
of St. Andrew is the society at Charleston, S. C, which 
was founded in 1729. It seemed to fill a want from the 
first, and its membership roll fully represented the Scotch 
clement in the population. From a historical sketch 
written by Judge King we quote the following: " In 1731 
they were joined by twenty-eight new members, among 
them being his Excellency Robert Johnston, the Royal 
Governor, and Robert Wright, Chief Justice of South 
Carolina. In 1732 they elected eighteen new members, 
and among them were James Michie, afterward Speakei 



414 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

of the House of Representatives, and who died Chief 
Justice, and the Rev. Archibald Stobo, who, providen- 
tially saved from a fearful hurricane, was long the pastor 
of the Congregationalists and Presbyterians worshipping 
together in the same building, and was probably the first 
who collected the Presbyterians of Charleston into one 
church. * * * On the death of Mr. Skene, [first 
President of the society and a member of the Legislative 
Council,] in 1740, the Hon. James Abercrombie, believed 
to be of the house of Tulliebody, was elected President. 
The Hon. John Cleland, a member of the Legislative 
Council, succeeded him, and on his death, in 1760, Dr, 
John Moultrie of Culross, one of the original founders of 
the society, the ancestor of the Moultries in South Caro- 
lina, was elected to the Presidency. On the death of Dr. 
Moultrie, in 1771, the Hon. John Stuart, Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, was elected President. He retained the 
office until the War of the Revolution interrupted the 
regular meetings of the society. He had been an ofhcer 
in the army and had distinguished himself by his conduct 
at Fort Loudon, in the war with the Cherokees, in 1760. 
* * * His son. Sir John Stuart, a native of Charles- 
ton, inherited the talents of his father, and at the battle of 
Maida, in 1806, showed what the inexperienced and raw 
troops of his father's country can achieve over veteran 
soldiers." After the war was over, the society began its 
active work again. One of its first enterprises was to 
establish a public school, which continued in active oper- 
ation through its aid until the State put its educational 
system in operation in 181 1. In that same year it was 
resolved to build a St. Andrew's Hall, and in 181 5 the 
edifice was inaugurated. It proved to be one of the pop- 
ular gathering places in the city, and in 1825 it was the 
headquarters of Lafayette when in Charleston. Bit by 
bit the hall was adorned with pictures and engravings of 
general interest, besides portraits of prominent members 
and it had many treasured articles, such as a snufif mull 
mounted in silver and covered with cairngorms; a mag- 
nificent ram's head, with generous horns, and a presiding 
officer's mallet made out of a bit of Wallace's oak at Tor- 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 415 

wood, with a handle from a piece of the cedar that first 
shaded the tomb of Washington. Except for the usual 
work of distributing charity and the holding of the yearly 
festivals, the society continued to flourish without much 
incident to record until Dec. ii, 1861, when its hall was 
totally destroyed by fire. The paintings, ram's head, 
snufT mull, mallet, and records were saved. The paint- 
ings were afterward sent in haste, when the civil war 
broke out, to Columbus, Ga., for safe keeping, but were 
lost when Sherman's .troops sacked that city in February, 
1865. The other articles, however^ were preserved dur- 
ing that trying time, and are now in the possession of the 
society. 

Some years ago an efifort was made to write the biog- 
raphies of the most noted of the early members of this so- 
ciety, but after a while the attempt was abandoned. This 
is to be regretted, for such a compilation would give a 
vast amount of information about many of the early Scots 
who held high places in the service of the Colonies. It 
would also introduce us to some very curious characters, 
a knowledge of whose careers is worth preserving. In 
the list of names of those who organized the society we 
find, for instance, that of Sir Alexander Cuming, one of 
the most curiously compounded mortals who ever lived. 
He was the head of the family of Cuming, or Comyn, of 
Culter, and descended from the old Earls of Buchan. He 
\vas born in 1700, at Culter, and studied the legal profes- 
sion, but for some reason got a pension of £300 a year 
from the Government, and gave up all idea of advance- 
ment at the bar, or even of continuing practice. The pen- 
sion, however, was withdrawn in 1721. He married an 
English lady who was as flighty as himself, and it was in 
consequence of a dream of hers that he determined to 
proceed to America and cultivate the acquaintance of the 
Cherokee Indians. He reached Charleston in 1729, the 
year the society was formed, and lost no time in making 
himself known to the Indians. In the following year he 
was crowned King and chief ruler of the Cherokees. 
Soon after, with six of his tributary chiefs, he sailed for 
England, and on June 18, 1730, had an audience with 



416 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

King George II., presented his chiefs, and laid his crown 
at the King's feet, making his followers also kneel in 
homage. Sir Alexander, even at the time of his visit, 
found considerable dissatisfaction existing in the Colo- 
nies against the mother country, and proposed as a 
means of securing their perpetual dependence a series of 
banks in each of the provinces, these banks to have a 
monopoly of business in their respective territory, and in 
turn to be entirely dependent upon the British Treasury 
and accountable only to the British Parliament. The 
British Government would not listen to his scheme, 
though it must be confessed that there was some solid 
sense in it, for, if the entire finances of a country could be 
throttled, as he proposed, there would not be much 
chance for a successful revolution. But in brooding upon 
the project Sir Alexander went over the narrow line 
which some assert is all that separates genius or wisdom 
from madness. He was a zealous student of the Script- 
ures, and, in the course of his reading, conceived the 
notion that he was alluded to in several passages as the 
appointed deliverer of the Jews. Then he opened a sub- 
scription with a gift of £500 from himself for the purpose 
of starting his scheme of American banks and for settling 
300,000 Jewish families among the Cherokees. Probably 
he did not bother himself as to how the Cherokees liked 
the proposal or whether the Hebrews would care to fra- 
ternize with the Indians, for that was too commonplace a 
detail for his thoughts. The subscription failed ignomin- 
iously, and in disgust Sir Alexander turned his thoughts 
and energy to the study of alchemy. This frittered away 
what was left of his means, and he not only became deep- 
ly involved in debt, but for some time had to subsist on 
the charity of his friends. Finally he was admitted a pen- 
sioner in the Charterhouse, London, where he died in 

1775- 

The St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia was organ- 
ized in December, 1749, by twenty-five Scottish residents 
of the " Quaker City." For some reason or another, 
these patrTotic and kindly men were afraid lest the pur- 
poses of their association would be misunderstood by 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 417 

their fellow-citizens, and to guard against this they issued 
a long " advertisement " setting forth the objects their 
society had in view. It read, in part, as follows: "The 
peculiar benevolence of mind which shews itself by chari- 
table actions in giving relief to the poor and distressed 
has always been justly esteemed one of the first-rate 
moral virtues. Any persons, then, who form themselves 
into a society with this intention must certainly meet 
with the approbation of every candid and generous mind, 
and we hope that it will plainly appear by the rules which 
are to follow that the St. Andrew's Society of Philadel- 
phia was solely instituted with that view." 

Having thus defined their position, these philosophic 
Scots compiled their by-laws and commenced their work. 
The first application for relief came from an unfortunate 
countryman named Alexander Ross. According to his 
story, he was a native of Galloway and a surgeon by pro- 
fession. He had been captured by the French and Span- 
iards five or six times, and escaped to America from some 
Spanish prison. His American reception w^as not the 
most hospitable, as it seems, when he made application 
for relief, he was confined as a debtor in the Philadelphia 
prison. His prayer was attended to, and 40s. were award- 
ed him. In 1750 the society paid £5 9s. for a " strong 
box '' to hold books, money, and other possessions. The 
box is still in existence, and is a good, substantial, serv- 
iceable article. It is deposited in the Fidelity Trust Com- 
pany's vaults with the old records of the society. In the 
same year a curious case came up for consideration which 
may be related here, as it illustrates the glorious uncer- 
tainty of the law which prevailed in those good old times 
just as much as it does in the present day. 

In 1732 Janet Cleland was induced to leave Scotland 
and take up her residence with her uncle, John Gibbs of 
Maryland. That individual had pressed her to cross the 
Atlantic, and promised to make her his heiress, besides 
agreeing to support her in good style during his lifetime. 
Relying on these promises, Janet, before she left, like a 
good, kind-hearted girl, made over to another uncle, a 
brother of the one in Maryland, a small patrimony which 



418 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

she had in her native land. After her arrival here Janet 
continued to reside with her uncle, and acted as his house- 
keeper until he died. The old gentleman appears to have 
been a peculiar sort of character, one of those personages 
who, for want of a more fitting name, would nowadays be 
styled a 'Vcrank." He had a terrible temper, and some- 
times it St) far overcame him that his niece had to leave 
his house for a few days until its violence subsided. Then, 
when it had copied off, she used to return, to his great 
delight, for he invariably expressed his regret at the cruel 
treatment and harsh words which had compelled her to 
seek refuge away from his home. To most of his friends 
and close acquaintances he often acknowledged his in- 
tention of leaving Janet all his possessions, and at one 
time, in presence of his attending physician, he made a 
formal will in which he bequeathed everything to her. 
Finally, in 1747, he died of an ulcer in his head, which, 
according to the testimony of the medical man who at- 
tended him, deprived him of his reason for quite a while 
before the end. While in this condition the negro slaves, 
in the absence of the doctor and nurse, used to give him 
large quantities of rum. By some means or other they 
prevailed upon him to sign another will. In it he cut 
Janet and all his relatives ofT without a cent, made his 
negroes free, and divided his property among them, with 
the exception of his plate, which went to comparative 
strangers, along with a few other legacies. Thus Janet 
was left penniless, and applied at length to the society for 
assistance. The last-made will appears to have been of- 
fered for probate, and she began a lawsuit to have it set 
aside. The society, considering her sad case, gave her a 
donation of £7, and recommended the members to give 
her all the assistance they could. It appears, however, 
that Janet lost her suit, and the last will made by her 
uncle was allowed to stand. 

During the Revolutionary period the society probably 
did little more than maintain its existence, owing, as was 
reported on one occasion, to " a number of members be- 
ing out of town, or more particularly on account of the 
convulsed and unsettled state of the times." The minute 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 419 

book covering the interesting- period between 1776 and 
1786 has been lost, if it ever was in existence, which may 
be regarded as donbtfuL The subseqnent history of the 
society is a prosperous one, and may be summarized in 
the old words " daein' guid an' gatherin' gear." On its 
long roll of members we find the names of two of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence — James Wil- 
son and Dr. John Witherspoon, President of Princeton 
College. The members took an active part in the erec- 
tion of the monument to this great clerical statesman 
which now graces Fairmount Park. The roll also con- 
tains the names of two Governors of the State — Hon. 
James Hamilton (President of the society for several 
terms) and Hon. Thomas McKean — and three Mayors 
of the city, Peter McCall. Morton McMichael, and Will- 
iam B. Smith. The roll is also graced with the names of 
several of the Revolutionary heroes, chief of which is that 
of Gen. Hugh Mercer, referred to in a previous chapter. 
The remains of this brave soldier were interred in Laurel 
Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, and there a line monument 
has since been erected to his memory. The society took 
the most active part in carrying on the movement for this 
memorial, and when it was dedicated it occupied a place 
of honor during the ceremonies. 

The vSt. Andrew's Society of the State of New York 
was founded in 1756. The intention of the promoters was 
simply to form a charitable organization, and that feature 
has really continued to be the prevailing one ever since. 
These kindly Scots, however, did not forget that under 
St. Andrew's banner patriotism, as well as charity, could 
work together, and their constitution provided that a din- 
ner should take place on the 30th of November in each 
year. Since then these meetings have been held regu- 
larly, except during the War of the Revolution. 

Among the members enrolled in 1757 we find the name 
of Col. Simon Eraser, eldest son of Lord Lovat, who was 
beheaded on Tower Hill, London, in 1747. When the 
Rebellion of 1745 broke out he was a student at the Uni- 
versity of St. Andrews, but was withdrawn by his cun- 
ning old father to be placed at the head of the clan. He 



420 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

surrendered himself to the Government in 1746; but, as 
he had never shown any sympathy for the cause of the 
Stuarts, and was known to have been influenced solely by 
afifection for his father, he was released in the course of 
the following year. Refusing military rank in the French 
service, he raised, in 1757, two battalions of 1,800 men, in 
command of which he proceeded to New York, and on 
his arrival he joined the St. Andrew's Society. He served 
with great distinction at Louisburg and Quebec, and aft- 
erward in the War of the Revolution. In 1774 the family 
estates were restored to him, but the attainder was not 
removed until 1854, when the old title of Lord Lovat was 
again placed on the roll of the Scottish peerage. 

The titular Earl of Stirling, one of the Revolutionary 
heroes, filled the office of President from 1761 till 1763. 
John, fourth Earl of Dunmore, Governor of New York 
in 1769, was elected President in 1770. His term of office 
was, however, very short, for in the same year he pro- 
ceeded to assume the government of Virginia. In 1773 
he was succeeded by Lord Drummond, son of the claim- 
ant to the attainted earldom of Perth, who came to this 
country as an officer in the army. A few years later he 
was taken prisoner by the Americans, but was released 
by Washington, and permitted to return to New York. 
His failing health obliged him to proceed to Bermuda, 
where he died, unmarried, in 1781. 

Besides these titled personages, the society has had 
many members to whom it can point with pride. Some 
of them, such as the Coldens, Hamiltons, and Living- 
stons, have left their mark upon the early history of the 
country, and in the long roll of membership may be found 
the names of the most prominent Scottish merchants and 
professional men who have resided in this city from the 
inception of the society until the present time. 

Whatever funds the society had prior to the Revolu- 
tionary War were dissipated by it. With the return of 
peace, however, it again exerted itself, and renewed its 
career of usefulness. P>etween the years 1787 and 1791 it 
had bank stocks worth $4,000, which were sold in the 
last-named year. A site was then purchased where 10 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 421 

and 12 Broad Street and 8 and lo New Street now stand, 
for the erection of a St. Andrew's hall. The price paid 
for the ground was $4,600. But the building scheme was 
dropped for some reason or other, and the property was 
sold in 1794 for $6,750. In 1803 the funds of the Dum- 
fries and Galloway Society, then being" wound up, 
amounting to about $2,300, were transferred to it. The 
financial standing of the society has since continued 
steadily to advance, and at the present time its perma- 
nent fund amounts to about $80,000. Besides, it owns 
three beds in hospitals and a plot in Cypress Hills Ceme- 
tery. 

Very few persons, even after perusing" the numerous 
details furnished in the reports of the society's operations 
issued every year, can form anything like a just apprecia- 
tion of the nature, extent, and importance of the charita- 
ble work performed by the officers. The number of per- 
sons who have fallen into destitute circumstances, through 
no fault of their own, in a large city like New York, must 
necessarily be always very great. They include the 
aged, the blind, the sick, the widow, and the orphan. So 
numerous, indeed, are such cases that even with the re- 
sources at their command the officers are unable to be as 
generous as they would wish. Still, the aid they give is 
always timely and welcome, and helps wonderfully in 
throwing a gleam of kindly light upon darkened fives. 
By means of the beds at tlieir disposal in the Presbyterian 
and St. Luke's Hospitals the officers are able to secure 
proper treatment and the best of medical attendance for 
many of the sick. The burial plot belonging to the so- 
ciety in Cypress Hills Cemetery, with its exceedingly 
beautiful and substantial shaft, the gift of Mr. John S. 
Kennedy, one of the ex-Presidents of the society, tells its 
own sad story, and shows how the thoughtful kindness of 
the society, besides ministering to the wants of destitute 
Scots in life, tries to gratify the last wish of every one by 
giving his remains a respectable interment. 

There is another class to whom the assistance of the 
society is rendered, and whose cases are often pitiable. 
This is the immigrants, or transients, as they may more 



422 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

properly be called. The old story is well known of peo- 
ple crossing the Atlantic in search of work, finding none, 
and landing penniless in the streets. The cases are also 
common of people who leave places in the interior and 
come to New York with the idea that employment can 
be had here for the asking; and there are hundreds of 
other causes which somehow end in making able-bodied 
men become idle wanderers in the great city, A mo- 
ment's reflection will tell us what this means — it is pov- 
erty, hunger, despair, and degradation. The society tries 
to help these cases by providing temporary shelter, by 
furnishing the means for cleanliness, and in many other 
ways. 

Like the societies at Boston and Philadelphia, the 
North British Society of Halifax, N. S., started, in 1768, 
with a strong box, and determined to fill the box with 
money as soon as possible and keep it filled, so that it 
might help along those among them who fell into pov- 
erty or who arrived in their midst in a state that needed a 
little assistance. The members also resolved to celebrate 
St. Andrew's Day, and the cjuarterly meetings were St. 
Andrew's festivals in miniature, for they appear to have 
at them mingled pleasure, charity, and patriotism in a 
marked degree. The society also had another purpose — 
that of seeing to it that each member should have what 
the survivors deemed a respectable funeral. For this 
purpose, one of the articles in the first constitution reads 
as follows: 

" That in case of the death of any member, the charge 
of the cofBn, pall, grave, and attendance shall be taken 
out of the Box, Six scarves, six hat bands, six pair of 
black gloves, and six pair white gloves shall be purchased 
out of the Box as soon as circumstances will allow, and 
likewise as much as can be afforded to be given to the 
widow and children of the deceased member for their as- 
sistance, the scarves and gloves to be returned to the 
Box." The record of the society since its foundation has 
been one continued story of charity, varied by St. An- 
drew's dinners of all sorts, from the semi-public festival at 
" the house of Widow Gillespie " to the grand occasion 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 423 

when, in 1794, they reveled in splendor because their 
principal guest was no less a personage than the Duke of 
Kent, the father of Queen Victoria. It has also cele- 
brated the centennials of Burns and Scott, and came to 
the front on all occasions when a Scottish society could 
exemplify its patriotic and charitable spirit. Its long roll 
of ofihcials includes the names of the most noted Scots in 
Halifax, and its history all through is one of which not 
only new Scotia, but auld Scotia, may justly be proud. 
Its charity has been liberal, yet thoughtful. One notable 
gift deserves to be noticed. In 1868, when celebrating in 
grand style its own centenary, it founded a scholarship in 
Dalhousie College. The only other instance of a like 
benefaction on the part of a Scottish society in America 
of which we are aware is the St. Andrew's Scholarship, 
given by the society of that name at Fredericton to the 
University of New Brunswick. 

The St. Andrew's Society of Montreal was established 
in 1835. It is one of the most active societies of its name 
in Canada, and yearly accomplishes a wonderful amount 
of good through its St. Andrew's Home or direct charita- 
ble agencies. In a discourse preached to the members 
by the Rev. J. Edgar Hill, on the occasion of the jubilee 
of the society, the following reference to the early history 
of the organization was made: " Previous to 1835 there 
had been no organized brotherhood of Scotchmen in the 
city, and therefore no systematic care of immigrants from 
the old land. From 1835 to 1857 the society had a name, 
])ut no place of habitation. Good w^ork it had done, but it 
would do better. Accordingly, in the early days of June, 
1857, St. Andrew's Home was opened, so that those who 
had left a home endeared to them by many tender asso- 
ciations should, in the new land across the sea, at once 
find a home provided for them till they had made a home 
for themselves. The idea was a brilliant one, and the 
time as well as the place was marked by an obvious lead- 
ing of Providence. For, while the home was opened on 
June II, the most pathetic appeal that has ever been 
made to the St. Andrew's Society, and the most severe 
test to which her philanthropy has been subjected, was 



424 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

made on the 27th day of the same month, when the 
* Montreal ' was burned to the water's edge a few miles 
below Quebec, on her passage to this city, and nearly 400 
l)crsons either perished in the flames or were drowned in 
trying to make their escape. The survivors, of course, 
lost their all. Many of them were widows and orphans, 
and all of them were sorrowful strangers in a strange 
land, under circumstances which evoked the sympathy oi 
every tender heart. Most of these were Scottish immi- 
grants, and at once the St. Andrew's Society undertook 
most loyally to provide for every Scot among them, 
'How nmch money do you want?' was the almost in- 
variable question the collectors were met with — a splen- 
did example of the characteristic Scotch way of answer- 
ing (luestions by putting another. Funds flowed in from 
Scotsmen all over Canada, for Scottish hearts were bleed- 
ing for their suffering brothers and sisters." 

St. Andrew's societies have probably existed from the 
time that the Scot abroad first began his travels. In the 
earlier stages of their history they were merely tempo- 
rary organizations for the celebration of the anniversary 
of the patron saint. The Scots' Guards in France re- 
joiced in a better dinner than visual on the 30th of No- 
vember, and in our researches into the history of our 
countrymen on the European Continent we find many 
evidences that St. Andrew's Day was fondly kept in re- 
membrance. Afterward, when men got settled and 
Scotch colonies began to arise, the regular society, as we 
have it now, was commenced. Originally the societies 
were simply patriotic in their aims, but afterward charity 
was added, and both of these grand qualities have com- 
bined to strengthen the organizations and make them 
useful as well as sentimental. In Scotland, the few St. 
Andrew's societies there arc simply kept alive in the in- 
terests of patriotism and are nearly all modern affairs, 
with no history of any great interest to any one outside 
of their own little circles. 

If a Scotsman wants to see his patron saint suitably 
honored he must leave Scotland and sojourn in Amer- 
ica, where undoubtedly the kindly memor)- of the good 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 425 

old missionary is cherished with the fires of loyaUy and 
love. If we were to believe the orators on the closing 
night of November in each year, in the United States and 
Canada, we would regard Andrew as the champion saint 
in the calendar, " the king o' a' the core," and Scotland as 
a land tlowing with milk and honey, whose men are the 
very cream of humanity, and whose lassies are genuine 
c|ueens of Parnassus, who have just come down to earth 
for a little change and relaxation. Patriotism runs high 
on such nights. Scotland is Scotland and no mistake, 
and woe be it to any wight who dares to gainsay it. But 
such a wight never appears, and the next day the high- 
strung patriot becomes a canny Scot once more, and for 
the remaining 364 days in the year his patron saint is a 
quiet, but none the less generous, distributor of charity. 
There is no more generous Scot to be found anywhere 
than the one who backs up his nationality with his siller, 
and while " Relieve the Distressed " is the accepted motto 
of the societies, " Patriotism and Parritch " would be 
more pertinent and comprehensive. 

Clubs or societies organized under the name Caledo- 
nian can be traced back in this country for about a cent- 
lU'v. In the early times they were simply social combi- 
nations of Scotsmen who got up some festival, such as a 
ball, during the Winter, and for the remainder of the 
year remained in a condition of suspended animation, 
somewhat after the fashion of many of the Burns clubs at 
the present day. The oldest existing Caledonian organi- 
zation in the Dominion is that of Montreal, while in 
the United States that of Boston claims to be the senior 
in point of age. But neither of these organizations would 
have survived for half a decade had they not been organ- 
ized on definite plans and for specific purposes, and had 
these purposes not met, or anticipated, a public want. 
All the clubs or societies which have proved successful 
have been, to a certain extent, business enterprises, and 
just as much as they have been managed on business 
])rinciples so much has been their measure of success. In 
Scotland the parish or village games have been in vogue 
from time immemorial, and have generally been held on, 



426 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

or in connection with, a local holiday. It was the repro- 
duction, by the originators of these clubs, of such local 
holidays with athletic games as a central attraction that 
caught the fancy and made them popular among " oor 
ain folk." Americans, too, always noted for their admi- 
ration for manly sports, thronged to the gatherings in 
such numbers that the promoters of the earlier games 
were often surprised at the crowds which attended them, 
and the substantial amount of the gate receipts. 

The main objects of the Caledonian organizations as 
at present existing are twofold — first, the encouragement 
and practice of Scottish games, and, second, the encour- 
agement of a taste for Scottish literature, poetry, and 
song. These objects are generally stated in their by- 
laws, not, perhaps, in these identical words, but in others 
having the same purport. The rules of many of the 
clubs make it imperative that public games should be 
held at least once each year, and in the open air. 

So far as the first of these objects — the encouragement 
and practice of games — is concerned, the Caledonian so- 
cieties of this continent must be credited with having 
achieved a wonderful amount of success. They have 
made the old-fashioned Scottish games not only very 
popular, but the Scottish rules are really the basis on 
which all athletic contests here are conducted. But even 
this success has latterly proved so far detrimental to the 
clubs that their games are not, from a pecuniary point of 
view, so remunerative as they formerly were. All over 
the country, during the season, games are held under the 
auspices of local athletic clubs, and these games are near- 
ly all very similar to those which might be witnessed at 
Hawick or Inverness. Most athletic clubs have weekly 
meetings, frequent tournaments with sister clubs, while 
now and again an amateur " star " goes on a record- 
breaking tour among them. The result is that these lo- 
cal organizations push the Caledonians into the back- 
ground, and their frequent meetings seem fully to supply 
the demand, so far as the public are concerned. There 
are many other reasons for this. In the athletic world a 
Caledonian record is regarded with suspicion, even if it 



ffCOTTTSH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 427 

should lie lionored with any regard at all, which is very 
seldom. The system of handicapping, too, which is so 
generally adopted in athletic societies, has served to 
bring a succession of bright }oung men into the arena 
year after year, while at Caledonian gatherings it is usual 
to find the war horses of ten years ago war horses still. 
The true theory of Caledonian athletes originally was to 
develop the skill, strength, and agility of their own mem- 
bers, and had this theory been carried out in practice a 
more satisfactory condition of things would have existed 
to-day. But one club wanted to have its athletic records 
as good as another. If a hammer was thrown 90 feet at 
Yonkers, for instance, the Poughkeepsie folks wanted it 
thrown as far, if not further, at their games. And so 
commenced the nuisance of traveling professional Cale- 
donian athletes. These men, of course, were members of 
sister societies, and from a sentimental point of view were 
entitled to equal privileges with the members of any club 
they might favor with a visit. This was all very well for 
a while, but some of the clubs were not very particular 
who they received into membership while the athletic 
craze was strong. The result was that the Scotch games 
were crowded with such Caledonian athletes as " Mr. Ma- 
loney," " Mr. Euth," " Mr. Sullivan," '" Mr. McCarthy," 
and the like. The most advanced club in this connection 
was that of Philadelphia, which opened its " Caledonian " 
games to all comers without distinction of creed, nation- 
ality, or previous condition of servitude. The result was 
that those who, in the Quaker City, went to see Scotch 
games saw a general scramble for the prizes by negroes. 
Irishmen, and Germans, as well as Scots. 

All these things combined to make the Caledonian 
games wane in popularity, and it is to be feared that they 
will never again gain their old measure of success. In 
fact, the quality of the games as athletic events has van- 
ished, and, while the annual field days of the various 
clubs may be kept up, they will be more useful for draw- 
ing the Scots in their various localities — for making a 
Scotch holiday, as it were — than for anything else. 

As regards the encouragement of Scottish literature, 



428 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

poetry, and song, it must be confessed that the Cale- 
donian ckibs have not added much to the national wealth. 
In Philadelphia for many years a series of literary meet- 
ings has been held each Winter. These assemblies are 
well attended, and at them a Scotch song can always be 
heard well sung, but the purely literary element is very 
meagre. This fact is to be deplored, and even wondered 
at, for in a cultured city like Philadelphia it should be an 
easy matter to arrange for a short lecture or talk upon 
some Scottish theme at each meeting. In Montreal a 
good series of sociables is given each Winter, and the 
Hallowe'en entertainment is generally the best of the 
kind on the continent, but such meetings, or the innu- 
merable socials held by other organizations each Winter, 
do little or nothing for literature. In New York they 
have lectures and a very commonplace debating organi- 
zation; in Boston such matters seem to be severely passed 
by without an effort to produce them. In Chicago the 
effort has been made, but without success. The fact is, 
the literary element in the clubs is grasped in too half- 
hearted a way to insure success. If the Caledonians cop- 
ied the Welsh, and offered prizes for the singing of auld 
Scotch songs, or if they offered prizes for essays on dis- 
tinctively Scottish subjects, if they organized scholar- 
ships in the colleges for the benefit of students of Scot- 
tish birth or descent, if they gave prizes in the local 
schools for the study of Scotch history, if they subsidized 
a lecturer who could speak on Scottish themes before 
popular audiences, if they helped a Scottish poet to place 
his productions before the American public, then they 
might be credited with doing something in furthering the 
second of the purposes for which they were primarily es- 
tablished. 

The wearing of the Highland costume at public gath- 
erings has been a feature of all Caledonian organizations, 
and by their activity in this matter they have certainly 
succeeded in making the " garb of old Gaul " familiar 
throughout the Nortliern and Western States and Can- 
ada. By frequently giving prizes for the best costume, 
they have inspired a kindly spirit of rivalry, until at the 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 429 

present time we have on this side of the Atlantic many 
costumes as complete and as perfect as any that could be 
seen in Scotland. It is singular, however, that whiie the 
Highland dress is thus patronized, the music which is as- 
sociated with it should be comparatively neglected. Bag- 
pipe playing is neither fostered or regarded by the clubs, 
(^f course, they must have pipe playing, but any one who 
can " blaw " and use his fingers as though he was manip- 
ulating a penny whistle is deemed good enough for any 
occasion. Real good playing, such as is common at the 
Braemar, Strathallan, or other gatherings in Scotland, is 
seldom heard in America, and when heard is not suffi- 
ciently appreciated. 

In this country and Canada, Caledonian clubs and so- 
cieties have, in spite of their shortcomings and failures, in 
the past accomplished much good. They have made 
many pleasant Scottish holidays; brought Scotsmen and 
their families into closer friendship with each other, and 
by their kindly charity and fraternal aid have lightened 
tire load of many a wanderer. They have made Scottish 
games become the delight of the youth of America, and 
the laws they have established for the guidance of such 
sports are generally accepted as the best as well as the 
most just that could be framed. Their record, on the 
whole, has been a creditable one, and, while we believe 
that they will require to seek new^ fields of operations if 
they are to maintain their popularity, we believe that in 
good time these new fields will be entered upon. If ath- 
leticism be played out, literature is not, and by cultivating 
that, and dropping all idea of mere financial success, these 
Caledonian organizations, clubs, and societies may yet 
attain a degree of influence and accomplish an amount of 
good which will make the past, even with all its triumphs, 
seem trifling in comparison. 

While athletics may be regarded as the basis of Cale- 
donian Clubs, insurance is undoubtedly the foundation 
of the Order of Scottish Clans. This order has passed 
through the trials of infancy and youth and is now in ro- 
bust manhood, and claims and takes it place as one of the 
most useful of Scottish societies in America. It was or- 



430 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ganized in St. Louis in 1878. For some time its schemes 
were confined to that city, but after a year or two it 
was tal-cen up by a number of Boston Scots, and a 
" boom '-' was started on its behalf which still continues 
as vigorous as ever. As the advantages offered by the 
order became known, clans commenced to spring up all 
over the country, until at present there are over 100 of 
these, and several in course of formation. Four or five 
clans are located in Canada, but across the border the 
order has not progressed as w^as at one time expected. 

When the Order of Scottish Clans was started the idea 
was to institute a grand federation of Scotsmen in Amer- 
ica, which, by united effort and a display of the truest 
fraternal spirit, was to combine sentiment and patriotism 
with more practical matters. The members were to unite 
in insuring their lives, sick benefits were to be provided, 
and a helping hand extended to any overtaken by mis- 
fortune. The fraternity was to be a secret one, that is, 
it was to meet with closed doors and have signs and pass- 
words after the fashion of the Odd Fellows. It was to have 
all the social features which distinguished the Caledonian 
societies, and, if need be, it would give public exhibitions 
of old Scottish games. It was to be a complete organiza- 
tion, offering to fill all the requirements of Scottish-Amer- 
icans, only that its benefits were to be confined to its own 
members, possibly on the theory that all Scotsmen should 
be on its rolls. 

The original ideas which guided the organization, while 
well enough for a local society the members of which 
were known to each other, were too crude to be success- 
fully worked in a large fraternity the members of which 
were scattered throughout the country. The insurance 
scheme, that of each surviving member paying a dollar 
on the death of one of their number, seemed the very 
essence of simplicity, but experience had demonstrated in 
other societies that the plan was not so effective or so 
equitable as it appeared on the surface, and after a few 
years of the existence of the order doubts on this point 
began to be entertained by many of its warmest adherents. 
This, however, might have been expected. In insurance 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 43], 

matters no society was ever organized at once on a per- 
fect basis. Experience is the great requirement of them 
all, and, until that experience has been gained, mistakes 
are certain to be made. Such societies require to be 
watchful, to put into practice one year what they learned 
during the year before, to make changes after considera- 
tion and practice shows the necessity for change, and to 
be constantly strengthening the organization at every 
point, no matter how trivial. This policy has character- 
ized the leaders and w^orkers of the order during the past 
few years. They have proved themselves thoughtful, 
progressive, and capable, and the fraternity has advanced 
in a surprising manner, as a result of their work. They 
have had to encounter opposition, sneering, g-rumbling, 
and fault-finding; but they have kept on doing their pa- 
triotic work, until the full assessment is paid to the rela- 
tives of a deceased member. Fault finding" does not 
amount to very much, but $2,000 is a happy, tangible fact. 

The great necessity for the welfare of all such insti- 
tutions is the want of Government, or, in some sections. 
State supervision. If the law compelled assessment in- 
surance companies to apply for permission to trade, if 
their promoters were made to give bonds to the State for 
the honorable carrying out of all their agreements, if the 
policies were issued with the sanction of the law advisers 
of the State, and the business books w^ere liable to be ex- 
amined by some competent ofificer at irregular intervals, 
we might regard assessment insurance as being as safe 
as any other. Fewer companies would then be organized, 
but those which fulfilled all the requirements would pos- 
sess stability. The management of this order has been 
clean. It has paid every debt as it has arisen. Its 
officers, except the Secretary, receive no emokmients, 
and its membership is selected with care as regards na- 
tionality, moral character and physical health. 

The question of grading assessments according to age, 
which was a theme of much discussion among the broth- 
erhood for several years, has been equitably and amica- 
bly adjusted, and, so far as one can see, there is no ob- 
stacle in the way to prevent the order from steadily in- 



432 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

creasing' until every Scottish workman in the country 
shall be enrolled on its books. In the States it has prac- 
tically no opposition to its work, excepting from what is 
called the American Order of Scottish Clans, which, how- 
ever, is not numerically strong. 

The insurance feature of the order might be that of 
any society, but in the subordinate clans the Scotch ele- 
ment comes to the front. The membership is confined to 
Scotsmen and their immediate descendants, and the 
moral character of each applicant is carefully enquired 
into. The ritual which is used in the initiation of candi- 
dates is founded on Scottish history, and when intelli- 
gently rendered is both impressive and instructive. The 
sick allowance in most of the clans is $5 a week, with free 
medical attendance, and these benefits, as well as the 
working expenses of the clan, are provided by the month- 
ly dues of the members. ]\Iany of the clans, too, have a 
funeral benefit of $50, which is paid at once on intimation 
of death. The meetings are generally well attended, and 
are managed with both order and decorum, two quali- 
ties which are not characteristic of other societies that 
might be named. Open social meetings at which the rel- 
atives and friends of members are invited are frequently 
given, and the public balls, concerts, and anniversary fes- 
tivals have generally been successful. Some of the clans 
have given games, but this feature, although one of the 
objects laid down in the constitution, has not been at- 
tended to as it should have been. Each clan has its re- 
galia, in which its own particular tartan predominates, 
and the appearance of the members of the order on pub- 
lic occasions, dressed in their costume, is one of the most 
gratifying spectacles which a Scotsman in America can 
see. 

In many respects the Order of Sons of Scotland, a Ca- 
nadian organization, runs in much the same grooves as 
the Order of Scottish Clans in the States. It is econom- 
ically managed, the meetings of its camps are not only 
interesting but thoroughly patriotic affairs, and its opera- 
tions are yearly extending all over the Dominion. 

A Burns club or society, properly speaking, is quite a 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 433 

different description of organization from any of which 
we have already treated. It is organized for but one pur- 
pose — that of honoring the memory of Scotia's darhng 
poet. It is eminently a social and literary association, 
and its entire horizon is bounded by that filled by the 
Ayrshire bard. But that is sufficient to infuse vitality and 
enthusiasm into any body of men, particularly if they are 
Scots or descendants of Scots. 

There is another difference between the Burns and St. 
Andrew's and Caledonian societies, or clans. The latter 
are all essentially Scottish, and membership in them is 
more or less confined to natives, or the immediate de- 
scendants of natives, of Scotland. Inasmuch, however, 
as the fame of Burns is no longer simply confined to 
Scotland but has spread over all the world, so member- 
ship in clubs bearing his name is generally open to all 
who reverence his memory or admire his genius. It is felt 
that if these clubs are to be gatherings of lovers of the 
poet, the members should admit into their circles men of 
any nationality who recognize the worth of the " High 
I*riest of Scottish Song." This is as it should be. All 
who acknowledge our bard as the poet of humantiy, free- 
dom, fraternity, and love should be welcomed into such 
clubs, and be received all the more heartily because they 
do not belong to our nationality, and have to contend 
with difhculties in the study of the poet which do not fall 
to our lot. 

The great night of the year for any Burns Club is the 
25th of January, and care is generally taken that it be 
celebrated in a manner that will really honor the memory 
of the poet and reflect credit on his native land and on 
his countrymen at home as well as abroad. The most 
usual form for the celebration to assume is that of a pub- 
lic dinner. This is often very pleasant for those who are 
present, and it brings to the front quite a crowd of speak- 
ers, and eulogies of Burns without number, and often 
without common sense or discrimination. 

The dues in a Burns Club, outside of what the annual 
celebration costs, are trifling. There is, indeed, no primal 
necessitv for a fund, and what is over at the end of each 



434 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

year in the Treasurer's hands should be handed to the 
nearest St. Andrew's society to be dispensed in charity. 
This would be fully in keeping with the teachings of 
Burns himself and redound to the credit of the organiza- 
tion. Should the members be willing to assess them- 
selves a little more than is absolutely necessary there are 
many ways in which their money might be invested. They 
might purchase copies of liurns's poems and give them 
as prizes each year in the public schools, or they could 
offer a bonus for the best poem on Burns or for the best 
essay on his life or genius. These are not extravagant 
undertakings, and c[uite within the reach of almost any 
club member, yet we do not know any better means that 
could be suggested for making the memory of our bard 
even more beloved throughout the American continent 
than it is at the present day. 

The game of curling has made rapid strides in this 
country since its introduction, but though it be " Sco- 
tia's ain Winter game," and though Scotsmen have nat- 
urally been prominent in it, it really sets no national re- 
quirement in connection with its membership, and prefers 
to win success simply as a game — the only purely ama- 
teur game in existence. Therefore it claims no extended 
notice here beyond simply alluding to it as one among the 
many favors which Scotland has bestowed on the New 
World. 

So, too, might Scotland's share in American Free Ma- 
sonry be dismissed in a few words were it not for the 
fact that its history on this side of the Atlantic goes back 
to a much earlier period than that of curling, and there 
are many historical facts in connection with it which 
should not be passed over in a volume of this kind, es- 
pecially as a claim has been made that the mysteries of 
the ancient order were first carried over the sea by breth- 
ren wdio owed allegiance to the Grand Lodge at old 
Kilwinning. 

So far as can be traced, Freemasonry in legitimate 
lodges having their authority from some Grand Lodge, 
was first introduced into America by warranted lodges 
working under the jurisdiction of one of the Grand 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 435 

Lodg-es in the United Kingdom. The records of these 
Grand Lodges are very defective, especially those of Ire- 
land, as most of its papers were destroyed by fire. The 
English records appear to have been purposely kept in 
an indifferent manner, probably from an idea which once 
prevailed that as little as possible should be committed 
to writing concerning Masonry and its doings — even the 
doings of subordinate lodges. To this erroneous notion 
is due much of the defective information we have con- 
cerning many matters of interest in the general history 
of the craft. 

Among the early lodges in this country which held 
warrants from the Grand Lodge of Scotland w-ere: 

1755 — St. Andrew's Lodge, Boston. 

17=16 — Lodge No. 82, Blandford, Va. 

1760 — Union, No. 98, South Carolina. 

1763- — St. John's, No. 117, Norfolk, Va. 

1767 — Moriah Lodge, in Twenty-second Regiment, 
afterward in New York. 

1771 — King Solomon's Lodge, No. 7, in New York, 
had a charter indirectly from the Grand 
Lodge of Scotland, for there is no record of 
the Grand Lodge of Scotland ever having 
issued a direct warrant to any lodge in New 
York, whether as a colony or a State. 

The most noted of these lodges, that of St. Andrew's, 
Boston, still survives, the wealthiest Masonic lodge in 
the United States, if not in the world. 

The earliest military lodge in the records of the Scot- 
tish Grand Lodge was granted, according to Mr. D. 
Murray Lyon, Grand Secretary, in 1743, by recommenda- 
tion of the Earl of Kilmarnock, upon petition of some 
" Sergeants and sentinels belonging to Col. Lees' Regi- 
ment of Foot." This regiment has been given the num- 
ber, Forty-fourth. This regiment was raised in 1741 in 
England, and had its first experience in actual warfare in 
this country in 1758. It took part in the expeditions 
against Ticonderoga, Fort Duquesne, and Fort Niagara^ 
and the engagements of Long Island and Brandywine. 



436 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

What is supposed to have been the outcome of another 
regimental lodge was that in the Twenty-second Regi- 
ment, which received its warrant from the Grand Lodge 
of Scotland in 1767. The regiment was in this city in 
1 78 1, and was known as Moriah Lodge. It was one of 
the five wdiich formed the New York Grand Lodge, but 
outside of that importatnt bit of service it does not seem 
to have had much to do with the progress of Masonry in 
this State. The regiment soon afterward was ordered 
away from New York to another scene of usefulness — 
or carnage. 

The most prominent lodge, however, which, in 1781, 
took part in the formation of the New York Grand 
Lodge, was that known as " Lodge No. 169," under the 
warrant of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the lodge which 
afterward adopted the name of '* St. Andrew's Lodge," 
and continued to be active in New York Masonry until 
1830, when its charter was surrendered. 

The origin of this lodge is not exactly known, but it 
very likely was in one of he regimental lodges. It is not 
known even where it got its original charter, and some 
Masonic writers often mix it up with the St. Andrew's 
Lodge of Boston. On July 13, 1771, it had obtained a 
warrant from the Grand Lodge of England with the title 
of " Lodge No. 169," and it took the name of Scotland's 
patron saint ofificially, so far as we know, in 1786. It is 
asserted by some writers that the lodge met' under its 
numerical designation in Boston, but tliis is doubted, 
and certainly there is nothing on record to prove it, and 
the general consensus of opinion among Masonic anti- 
quaries is that its first settled home was in New-York. 

On the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland there is 
record of a lodge — St. John, No. 169 — at Shettleston, 
near Glasgow, receiving a warrant in 1771. It is a ques- 
tion wdiether this had any connection with the Lodge No. 
169 which met in Boston, and whose vvarrant was dated 
the same year. Gould, in his " History of Freemasonry," 
says: " No 169 was established in Battery jMarsh, Bos- 
ton, 1771. This lodge, which is only once named in the 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 437 

records of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, accompanied 
the British Army to New York on the evacuation of 
Boston in 1776." Another authority says it is not im- 
probable that the Scottish warrant granted for Shettle- 
ston was transferred to an army lodge and Lodge St. 
John became in time St. Andrew. Another matter which 
is regarded as very probable is that the origin of the St. 
Andrew's Lodge of New York was this same regimental 
warrant held in the Forty-second Regiment, the famous 
" Black Watch." 

The Scottish regiments in New York from 1770 to the 
evacuation of the city Were the Forty-second, which 
came here in 1776 for a short stay, returned in 1780, spent 
a Winter here, had their headquarters most of the time 
in Albanw and were in this city some months before the 
evacuation, Nov. 25, 1783, when they went to Halifax. 
The Seventy-first (old) was in this city in 1777 and then 
went South. They had a stirring career in the Colonies 
until they surrendered with Cornwallis at Yorktown. 
The present Seventy-first Regiment was never in this 
country. The Seventy-fourth (old) was represented in 
this city by a grenadier company in 1779, but after a 
short stay they were ordered to Charleston, and took part 
in its siege. The Seventy-sixth ^old), or the Macdonald 
Highlanders, were stationed between this city and Staten 
Island in 1779, and from here left for Virginia, to surren- 
der in the end with Cornwallis. So far as we have been 
able to discover, this completes the hst. Doubtless many 
temporary commands were sent over to take part in the 
great struggle, but such commands would not be likely 
to apply for or to receive a warrant from any Grand 
Lodge. 

Whatever the early history of St. Andrew's Lodge 
here, it seems to have soon held an important position 
in the craft. The first meeting to organize what is now 
the Grand Lodge of New York State was held in its 
meeting-room, and its master, the Rev. William Walter, 
was the first Grand Master, and was subsequently re- 
elected twice, relin(|uishing it only when duty called him 
to another field of labor. " For a time," McClenachan 



438 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

says, " the history of this lodge seemed to be that of the 
Grand body, and it stood pre-eminent under the title of 
St. Andrew's, No. 3, on and after June 3, 1789. In time 
the Grand Lodge became stronger and was enabled to 
walk alone; the Grand of^cers were more widely dis- 
tributed, and, although No. 3 continued in its constancy, 
its excessive influence waned." 

The first lodge in Maryland of which tiiere is record 
was organized in 1750, and its first Master was Dr. Alex- 
ander Hamilton, and its first Senior Warden the Rev. 
Alexander Malcolm. In the course of his oration at the 
centennial meeting of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, 
Past Grand Master Carter said: "Tradition says there 
were other and earlier lodges in Maryland, including 
one called St. Andrew's at Georgetown, now in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, formed by the Scotch settlers some 
time prior to 1737." One of the early Grand Masters of 
that State (the fourth) was David Kerr, who was born 
in Scotland on Feb. 5, 1749. He came to this country 
when in his twentieth year, just when the Revolutionary 
movement was beginning to make headway, and took 
sides with the Colonists. After independence had been 
won he settled at Easton and prospered in business. He 
died in 1814, leaving a family which upheld the credit of 
his name throughout the State. 

The Grand Lodge of the State of New York was or- 
ganized, as we have seen, in the meeting-room of St. 
Andrew's Lodge in 1781. Its charter was signed by the 
Duke of Atholl, as being then Grand Master of " the 
Ancients." This popular Scotch peer was born June 30, 
1755. and succeeded his father as fourth duke in 1774. He 
died in 1820. He was a public-spirited nobleman, raised 
once a regiment of soldiers — the Atholl Highlanders — 
for the service of his sovereign; but, except in Masonry, 
he sought no public honors. 

The warrant or charter issued in 1781 authorized the 
Masons in New York to congregate and form a Provin- 
cial Grand Lodge in the City of New York. In 1783 the 
independence of the United States was aclcnowledged, 
and with that independence the provincial lodge became 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 439 

a sovereign Grand Lodge. Of the first Grand Master, 
JVIr. Walter, little is known, save that he was a chaplain in 
one of the regiments ; that he was Master of St. Andrew's 
Lodge at the time of his elevation, and that he resigned 
his high office because duty called him to another place. 
That he was highly respected is shown by the many offices 
to which he was elected by his Masonic brethren, and by 
the resolutions of regret which expressed their sorrow at 
the necessity of parting wnth him. In this sovereign 
Grand Lodge there must have been quite a strong Scotch 
element, if we may judge by the names of its officials. 
James McCuan (McEwan) was Deputy Grand Master, 
James Clarke Grand Secretary, Archibald McNeill 
Grand Steward, etc. McCuan was succeeded in 1783 by 
Archibald Cunningham, and in that year the Grand 
Treasurer was Samuel Kerr, a representative Scotch 
merchant. 

Chancellor Livingston was Grand Master from 1784 
till 1800, and most of the members of his family belonged 
to the order. Throughout its history Scotsmen have all 
along been active in New York's Grand Lodge, and that 
activity still continues. Mr. William A. Brodie, a native of 
Kilbarchan, was Grand Master in 1884, and that high and 
honorable office is now held bv Mr. John Stewart — who 
never fails to boast that he has Scotch blood in his veins. 



With this chapter we close our study of the Scot in 
America. The theme has been an interesting one and 
has led us into innumerable walks of life, and its subject- 
matter might easily have been extended over a series 
of volumes. But enough, more than enough, has 
been adduced to prove that the record is an hon- 
orable one, and that whatever welcome has been 
given to the expatriated Scot on landing in America, 
or whatever honors may have been heaped upon 
him, are amply repaid by his devotion to the country 



440 THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

by the care with which he fosters its best interests, 
and the patriotic efiforts he makes to add to its wealth 
and to its dignity among the nations. The Stars and 
Stripes raise no loftier feelings or inspire more loy- 
alty in the heart of a descendant of one of the Mayflower 
party than in the heart of the wanderer from Scotland 
who has made his home in the United States. The flag 
becomes his flag, the country becomes his country, and 
to the defense of the one his blood will be shed if needed, 
while to develop the interest and maintain the integrity 
of the other he will devote the same enthusiasm and the 
same common sense that have served his own country 
so well. A believer in law, he is ever on the side of author- 
ity; a believer in religion, he is a staunch upholder of 
public and private morals and of honesty in politics; he 
does not aspire to political influence, to control a caucus, 
or lead a district; but he treasures his ballot as the out- 
come of his civil liberty, the charter of his freedom and 
equality in the Commonwealth. Whatever adds to the 
material wealth of the country finds him an effective sup- 
porter; in the cause of education he is ever in the ranks 
of the foremost workers, and in charity his liberality and 
practical interest are everywhere apparent. Take him all 
in all, he is a useful citizen, and in that regard is second to 
none. His patriotism is not that of the orator who believed 
in "the old flag and an appropriation;" but it is true, 
reverent, and from the depth of his heart. So, too, in the 
great Dominion, north of the St. Lawrence, no native 
has a deeper affection in his heart of hearts for "This 
Canada of Ours " than the Scot who has thrown in his 
lot m that part of the continent, and he is as proud of the 
maple leaf as he is of the thistle. 

Rut, while giving himself thus up to the land of his 
adoption, the Scot in America does not forget the land of 
his birth. It may be to him but a sentiment, yet the 
sentiment burns deeper into his heart as the years roll on. 
It may be forever to him a reminiscence, a dream of the 
past, and the mournful notes of " Lochaber no more " 
may sound in his ears as he conjures back to memory 
the once-familiar scenes and recalls once weel-kenned 



SCOTTISH-AMERICAN SOCIETIES. 441 

faces. But, as time creeps on its very name becomes 
sacred, and his highest hopes are that all that is grand in 
Scotland, all that has lifted her up among the nations, 
that has made her be regarded as an unfaltering cham- 
pion of civil and religious liberty, may be transplanted, 
preserved and perpetuated in the land which has become 
his own. He never thinks of Scotland without a flutter, 
without a benediction ; and he is ever ready to re-utter in 
his own words the sentiments of good old Isabella Gra- 
ham, when, nearing the end of her earthly pilgrimage, 
she wrote: 

" Dear native land! May every blessing from above 
and beneath be thine — serenity of sky, salubrity of air, 
fertility of soil; and pure and undefiled religion inspire 
thy sons and daughters with grateful hearts to love God 
and one another." 



I 3sr ID E x:_ 



ABERCROMBIE, Hon. Jas., Callender, James Thomas, 353- 

414. Callender, Walter, 267. 

Adam, Meldrum & Anderson, Callender, McAuslan & Troup, 

266. 266. 

Affleck, Robert, 231. Calverley, Charles, 181, 263. 

Ainslie, Hew, 190, 388. Cameron, Dugald, 56. 

Aitken, Robert, 244. Campbell, Alexander, 225. 

Alexander, Sir William, 45. Campbell, Daniel, 226. 

Alexander, Gen. William, 1 17, Campbell, Capt. Laughlin, 50. 

308, 420. Campbell, Lord William, 83. 

Allan, John, 128. Carnegie, Andrew, 8, 273. 

Allan, John, (antiquary,) 13. Carter, Robert, 250. 
Allan. Robert, 386. Chalmers, George, 353. 

Anderson, William, 408. Chisholm, Henry, 212. 

Auchmuty, Family, 307. Chisholm, William, 212. 

Cleland, John, 414. 
BARCLAY, Robert, of Ury, 85. Cochran, Thomas, 38. 
Bell, A. Graham, 214. Colden, Cadwallader, 91, 286. 

Bell, A. Melville, 214. Colden, Mayor Cadwallader D., 

Bennett, James Gordon, 2>1-- 93. -3i- 

Bethune, Divie, 326, 2)^"]. Craik, Dr. James, 199. 

Bethune, Joanna, 325, 326. Craig, Sir James H., 98. 

Black Watch, the, 2-7, 41, z^- Crawford, D., (St. Louis,) 268. 
■' Boston News Letter," 246. Crawford, William, 268. 
Boston Scots' Charitable Soci- Crerar, D. MacGregor, 404. 

ety, 49, 265, 412. Crichton, James D., 405. 

Braik, James, 205. Cuming, Sir Alexander, 415. 

British Charitable Society, 265. Curling, 434. 
Brown, Hon. George, zii- 

Bruce, George, 343- DEMPSTER, W. R., 346. 

Bruce, Robert, 242. Denholm & McKay Co., 266. 

Bruce, Wallace, 408. Dick, Rev. Robert, 211. 

Buchanan, Rev. Dr., 175. Dinwiddie. Robert, ^T. 

Burden, Henry, 210. Douglas. David, 204. 

Burns Clubs, 432. Douglas, Sir James, 69. 

Burns, Robt., first Am. ed., 244. Drummond, William, 74. 
Burns, Robt., 2d Am. ed., 231. Drummond, Lord, 420. 
Burns statue at Albany, 262. Dunbar, Sir William, 226. 
Burtt, Rev. John, 379. Dunmore, Earl of, 78, 242, 420. 

CALDER, A. M., 188. ECKFORD, Henry, 216. 

Caledonian Clubs, 425. Erskine, Robert, 202. 

443 



444 



THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 



Ewing, George E., i88. 

FAIRBAIRN, Angus, 394- 
Ferguson, James, 217. 
Ferguson, Robert, 265. 
Fleming, William, 120. 
Forbes & Wallace, 266. 
Forrest, Edwin, 335. 
Eraser, John, (■' Cousin Sandy,") 

395- 
Eraser, Col. Simon, 419. 
Freemasonry, 434. 
Fulton, Robert, 301. 

GALT, John, 242, 362. 
Garden, Alexander, 149. 
Gardner, Hugh, of New York, 9. 
Geddes, Gen. J. L., 35. 
Gellatly, Rev. Alexander, 152. 
Gilchrist & Co., (Boston.) 264. 
Gilfillan, Judge James, 315. 
Gordon, Andrew R., 71. 
Gordon, Thomas, 302. 
Gowans, William, 248. 
Graeme, Dr. Thomas, 198. 
Graham, Andrew, 10. 
Graham, Isabella, 323. 
Graham, John, of Edinburgh, 10. 
Grant, President U. S., 301. 
Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, 319, 377. 
Gray, David, 392. 
Greenshields, David, 290. 
Greig, John, Canandaigua, 310. 

HALL, David, 245. 
Hall, Rev. Dr. Robert, 154. 
Hamilton, Alexander, 57, 123. 
Hamilton, Andrew, 86, 302. 
Hamilton, Gen. W. B., 271. 
Hamilton, John, 271. 
Hamilton, John C, 271. 
Hardie, James, 285. 
Hart, James M., 182. 
Hart, William, 181. 
Harper, Dr. J. M., 405. 
Henderson, D. B., 318. 
Henderson, D. M., 404. 
Henderson, Peter, 205. 
Henry, Joseph, 302. 



Hewat, Rev. Alexander, 159. 
Hogg, Brown & Taylor, 264, 

267, 268. 
Hunter, Gov. Peter, 97. 
Hunter, Gen. Robert, 87. 

LMRIE, John, 407. 

Irving, Washington, quoted 18, 

59. (Astoria:) 357. (sketch.) 
Ivison, Henry, 249. 

JAFFREY, Jeannie (Mrs. Ren- 
wick,) 14. 

Johnston, Gabriel, 81. 

Johnstone, George, 80. 

Johnston, John, 82. 

Johnston, John. (Milwaukee,) 
259- 

Johnston, John Taylor, 275. 

Johnston, Gov., of North Caro- 
lina, 159. 

Johnston, Gov. Robert, 413. 

Jones, Paul, 134. 

KEITH, Rev. George, 150. 

Keith, Prof. John, 286. 

Keith, Sir William, 87, 198. 

Kemp, Rev. Dr. William (Bish- 
op), 168. 

Kennedy, David (vocalist), 335, 
337, 395- 

Kennedy, James, 407. 

Kennedy, John S.. 7, 237, 277, 
421. 

Kennedy, R. L., 237. 

Kennedy, William, 391. 

Kidd, Capt., 52. 

King, Judge Mitchell, 310, 413. 

Kinnear, Peter, 262. 

Kirkwood, James P., 217. 

Knox, John, 106, 10;', 282. 

LAIDLIE. Rev. Archibald. iS2. 

Laidlaw, W. G., 318. 

Laing, Joseph, 36, 39. 

Latto, Thomas C, 397. 

Law, James D., 408. 

Lawson, John, 352. 

Lawson, James, 372. 



INDEX. 



445 



Lee, James, 2T2f 
Lenox, James, 236, 275. 
Lenox, Robert, 235, 274. 
Livingston, Family of, 130. 
Louden, Samuel, 231. 

MAITLAND, David, 233. 

Macadam, J. L., 16. 

Macdonald, Sir John A., 222'. 

Maitland, R. L., 274. 

Mason, John, 343. 

Mason, Rev. Dr. John, 153. 

Mason, Rev. Dr. J. AL, 154, 164, 
3-^6. 

Maxwell, Hugh, 311. 

Maxwell, William, 230. 

Mercer, Gen. Hugh, iii. 

Middleton, Dr. Peter, 200. 

Milne, Alexander, 222,. 

Mitchell, Hon. Alex., 256, 257. 

Moffat, Rev. Dr. J. C, 368. 

Monro, Rev. Henry, 156. 

Montgomerie, Major Archi- 
bald, 27. 

Montgomerie, John, 90. 

Morrison, Charles, 195. 

Morrison, Gen. David, 36. 

Moultrie, Dr. John, 414. 

Muir, Rev. James, 160. 

Muir, Dr. Samuel, 160. 

Murray, Gen. James, 96. 

Murray, William, 407. 

MacArthur, Judge, Arthur, 316. 

Macomb, Gen. Alexander, 123. 

Macdonald, Flora, 320. 

Macdonald, Hon. John, 278. 

Macdonnell, Miles, loi. 

Macfarlane, Robert, 367. 

Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, 66. 

Mackenzie, Donald, 59, 60. 

Maclay, Rev. Dr. Archibald, [63, 

Maclean, Prof. John, 287. 

Maclure, William, 203. 

Macmillan, Wm., 205. 

Macpherson, Jas., " Ossian," 81. 

McArthur, Gen. John, 34. 

McArthur, John, 192. 

McAuslan, John, 267. 

McCallum, Donald C.. 218. 



McColl, Evan, 402. 
McCosh, President, 239,287, 347. 
McCulloch, Hon. Hugh, 314. 
McDougall, Gen. Alex., 115. 
McGill, James, 288. 
McGillivray, Gen. Alex., 20. 
Mcintosh, Gen. Lachlan, 116. 
Mcintosh, Wm., Indian chief, 22. 
McLachlan, Alexander, 399. 
McLean, Andrew, 406. 
McLeod, Rev. Dr. Alex., 162. 
McLeod, Rev. Dr. J. N., 163. 
McNaughton, Dr. James, 202. 

NAIRNE, Prof. C. M., 296. 

Nelson, Thomas, " Scotch Tom," 
223. 

North British Society of Hali- 
fax, 422. 

Norrie, Adam, 22,2. 

OLIVER, John, (Qiicago,) 

-\S7- 
Orr, Robert, 209. 

PATON, Susannah, 345. 
Pattison, Granville Sharp, 295. 
Phyfe, Duncan, 253. 
Picken, Andrew B., 382. 
Picken, Joanna B., 382. 
Pinkerton, Allan, 15. 
Pirie, George, 374. 

RAFFEN, Capt. J. T.. 34. 

Ramsay, Donald, 399. 

Reid, David Boswall, 206. 

Reid, Duncan, 51. 

Reid, Robert, (" Rob Wan- 
lock,") 406. 

Reid, Hon. Whitelaw, 375. 

Reid, William, 263. 

Rhind, J. M., 187. 

Ritchie, A. H., 184. 

Ross, Dr. J. D., 370, 390, 398. 

Ross, John, of Philadelphia, 
126, 227. 

Roy, Andrew, 269. 

Russell, Archibald, 2^2,. 

Russell, William, 295. 



44G THE SCOT IN AMERICA. 

ST. ANDREWS SOCIETY Stobo, Rev. Archibald, 414. 
of Charleston, 149, 157, 246, Stuart, Alexander, 281, 238. 

311, 413- Stuart, Gilbert C, 179. 
St. Andrew's Society of Phila- Stuart, Kinloch, 238. 

delphia, 416. Stuart, Robert, 59, 62. 

St. Andrew's Society of the Stuart, R. L., 238, 281. 
State of New York, 154, 173, Stuart, Mrs. R. L., 239, 281. 

312, 419- ^ Sturoc, W. C, 407. 
St. Andrew's Society of Mont- Swan, James, 120. 

real, 423. 
St. Clair, Gen. Arthur. 113. TAYLOR, Rev. Dr. W. M., 165. 
Sandeman, Robert, 142. Thorn, James, 186. 

Scott, Prof. D. Burnet, 297. Thomson, Rev. Dr. J., 166, 248. 
Scott, Rev. Dr. George, 387. Thomson, Robert, 187 
Scott, Walter, 1..13. Thorburn, Grant, 205, 240. 

Scott, Mrs., (mother of Sir Troup, John E., 267. 

Walter,) 325. Turnbull, Rev. Robert, 365. 

Scottish Clans, Order of, 429. Tytler, James, 383. 
Seton, Mgr., 173. 
Seventy-ninth H i gh 1 anders, WADDELL, Thomas. 271. 

(New York,) 36. Walker, Wm., (Quebec,) 280. 

Shaw, John, (St. Louis,) 254. Wait, George M., 220. 
Shepherd, Norwell & Co., 264, Wanless, Andrew, 406. 

265. Washington, George, 21, 29, 

Shirlaw, Walter, 190. 107, 179, 202, 302. 

Simpson, Sir George, Gy. Watts, Family of, 125. 

Simpson, Crawford & Simpson, Webster, William, 40 

268. Wells, Robert, 246. 

Sinclair, Dr. A. D., 202. Wellstood, Family of, 190. 

Sinclair, John, (vocalist,) 335. Whittet, Robert, 404. 
Sinclair, Malcolm. 40. Wilkie, Daniel, (Quebec,) 292. 

Skene, Alexander, 86. Williamson, Chas., 53, 54, 230. 

Skene, Prof. A. J. C, 202. Williamson, John, 185. 

Smibert, John, 178. Williamson, Peter, 57. 

Smith, Sir Donald A., 279. Wilson, Sir Daniel, 350. 

Smith, George, (Chicago,) 281, Wilson, John, (vocalist,) 336. 

256. Wilson, John, (printer,) 247. 

Smith, James M., 264. Wilson, James, (Signer,) 419. 

Smith, W. E., 94. Wilson, Wm., (Poughkeepsie,) 

Smith, W. R., 205. 390. 

Smillie, Family, the, 180. Wingfield, Alexander, 403. 

Somerville. Alexander, 363. Witherspoon, Rev. Dr. John, 

Sons of Scotland, Order of, 432. 104, 107, 244, 324, 325, 419. 
Spence, Dr. John, 201. Wood, William, 298. 

Spence, John F., 261. ^^ Wi'ig^t, Janny, 331. 

Spence, W. W., 261. Wf^ Wjfig4^,-'Chief Justice Robert, 

Steel, Wm., (Abolitionist^ 11. 413. 
Stewart, Dr. A. M., 375. 
Stewart, John A., 276. YOUNG, Hugh, 39. 



